Up.  T&i.Oft 


uThe  Roots  of  Christian 
Teaching  as  Found  in 
the  Old  Testament  /. 


-BY- 


GEORGE  AARON  BARTON,  A.M.,  Ph.D., 

Associate  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  and  Semitic 
Languages  in  Bryn  Mawr  College. 


1902 
THE  JOHN  C.  WINSTON  CO. 

PHILADELPHIA 


COPYRIGHT    1902 

BY 
GEORGE  A.    DARTON. 


TO 

MY  WIFE 

DEVOTED  HELPER 

LOVING  AND  INSPIRING 

COMRADE 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  THIS  BOOK. 


THIS  little  volume  has  been  written  for 
those  who  would  study  the  Old  Testament 
devotionally.  Many  are  puzzled  to  know 
how  to  use  the  Old  Testament.  They  have 
an  idea  that  modern  knowledge  and  mod- 
ern methods  of  study  have  wrought  great 
changes  in  our  conception  of  that  part  of 
our  Bible,  but  just  what  these  changes  are 
they  often  do  not  know,  and  when  they  do 
know,  often  experience  a  vague  sense  of  help- 
lessness with  reference  to  the  use  to  which 
the  Old  Testament  may  be  put. 

Our  forefathers  found  Christ  in  the  Old 
Testament  by  a  system  of  typology.  The 
system  was  often  fanciful  and  arbitrary, 
but  it  pointed  in  the  direction  of  the  right 
method.  The  roots  of  Christian  teaching 
go  down  into  Hebrew  and  Semitic  soil, 
and  to  understand  the  whole  tree,  one  must 
study  the  roots.  Then,  too,  there  is  a  real 
typology.  Just  as  the  biologist  beholds  in 
the  skeleton  of  a  fish  of  the  far-off  Devonian 

vii 


Vili  THE   PURPOSE    OF   THIS    BOOK 

age  the  type  of  a  man,  because  it  is  the 
antecedent  of  the  human  skeleton,  so  the 
student  of  scripture  may  find  in  Hebrew 
and  Semitic  institutions  real  types  of  Chris- 
tian truth.  He  finds  the  beginning  of  the 
form  of  that  earthly  body  which  afterward 
became  the  tabernacle  of  the  Christian  Spirit, 
and  is  helped  to  understand  the  expression 
of  the  Spirit  better,  because  he  understands 
the  history  of  its  instrument  of  expression. 
The  study  of  Old  Testament  institutions 
and  ideas  is  therefore  often  a  great  devo- 
tional help. 

Many  narratives  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  powerful  parables  of  Christian  truth. 
Although  differences  of  opinion  now  exist  as 
to  the  historical  character  of  some  of  these 
accounts,  the  significance  of  the  narratives 
as  vehicles  for  the  expression  of  religious 
truth  is  in  no  way  affected  by  such  opin- 
ions. Like  the  parables  of  Christ,  they 
are  classic  utterances  of  religious  truth  quite 
apart  from  historical  considerations.  The 
reader  will /therefore  find  in  the  following 
pages  brief  sketches  of  Old  Testament  ideas 
and  institutions,  mingled  with  character- 


THE   PUEPOSE   OF   THIS    BOOK  ix 

studies  of  a  number  of  Old  Testament 
heroes.  In  each  case  the  Christian  truth, 
of  which  the  sketch  presents  a  type  or  para- 
ble, is  briefly  set  forth  in  such  a  way  that  a 
reader  may  enjoy  its  religious  significance, 
whether  he  is  accustomed  to  look  at  the 
Bible  from  the  old  point  of  view  or  from 
the  new.  It  has  been  the  writer's  aim  to 
fasten  the  mind  on  those  things  "which 
cannot  be  shaken." 

While  parts  of  the  brief  chapters  are  some- 
times devoted  to  historical  sketches,  their 
chief  aim  is  devotional.  The  writer  would 
take  the  reader  apart  for  brief  meditations 
upon  the  great  themes  of  Christian  truth, 
Christian  character,  and  Christian  duty  as 
these  are  foreshadowed  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment revelation.  The  meditations  have 
been  made  short  with  the  hope  that  they 
might  thus  be  of  service  to  busy  men  and 
women. 


ASSYRIAN  SACRED 
TREE. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

The  Purpose  of  this  Book v 

I.    The  Unity  of  God 1 

II.    The  Nature  of  God 5 

III.  The  Moral  Nature  of  God 10 

IV.  The  Essential  Nature  of  God   ..."  15 
V.    God  Manifest  in  the  Flesh    ....  20 

VI.  Christ  the  Revelation  of  God  ...  25 

VII.  Christ,  the  Messiah 30 

VIII.  Christ,  the  Captain  of  Salvation  .  35 

IX.  The  Holy  Spirit 40 

X.  Man 45 

XI.  Sin  as  Transgression 49 

XII.  Sin  as  Separation  from  God  ....  54 

XIII.  The  Sacrificial  Element  in  Atone- 

ment      58 

XIV.  The  Function  of  Suffering  in  Atone- 

ment      63 

XV.    The  Temple  of  the  Heart 71 

XVI.     Priesthood 78 

XVII.    The  Inventions  of  the  Sons  of  Cain.  83 

XVIII.    Enoch 88 

XIX.    Sons  of  God 93 

XX.     Noah 98 

XXI.    Babel 103 

XXII.    The  Call  of  Abraham 107 

XXIII.  Jacob  at  Bethel 112 

XXIV.  How  Jacob  Became  Israel  ....  117 
XXV.    Joseph 122 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

XXVI.    Moses 126 

XXVII.  The  Passage  of  the  Red  Sea  ....  130 

XXVIII.    Joshua 134 

XXIX.    Deborah 138 

XXX.    Gideon 142 

XXXI.    Samson 146 

XXXII.    Samuel 149 

XXXIII.  Saul 152 

XXXIV.  Jonathan 166 

XXXV.    David 159 

XXXVI.    Solomon 163 

XXXVII.    Elijah 167 

XXXVIII.    Amos 171 

XXXIX.    Hosea 176 

XL.    Isaiah 180 

XLI.    Immanuel 185 

XLII.  The  Prince  of  the  Four  Names  .    .  190 

XLIII.    Josiah's  Reform 195 

XLIV.    Jeremiah 200 

XLV.    Habakkuk 205 

XLVI.    Job 209 

XLVII.    Ezekiel 213 

XLVIII.    The  Great  Unknown 218 

XLIX.    Nehemiah 223 

L.    The  Levitical  Ritual 227 

LI.    Jonah 232 

LIL    The  Psalter 236 

LJII.    Satan 241 

LIV.    International  Peace 246 

LV.  The  Coming  of  the  Kingdom   .    .   .  255 

LVI.    The  City  of  God 262 

LVII.  How  Christ  Fulfilled  the  Law  and 

the  Prophets 267 


THE  ROOTS 

— OF- 

CHRISTIAN  TEACHING 

AS  FOUND  IN  THE 

OLD  TESTAMENT 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  UNITY  OF  GOD. 

"Thou  believest  that  there  is  one  God,"  James,  ii,  19. 

"  That  God,  which  ever  lives  and  loves, 
One  God,  one  law,  one  element ; 
And  one  far-off  divine  event, 

To  which  the  whole  creation  moves." 

— Tennyson. 

THE  germ  of  the  oak  as  it  pushes  its  way 
up  through  the  clod  does  not  closely  re- 
semble the  gigantic  tree  which  in  later 
years  it  will  become,  and  yet  a  naturalist 
who  has  watched  the  growth  of  oaks  finds 
in  the  germ  the  promise  and  potency  of  the 
full  grown  tree.  Something  like  this  is  true 
of  the  idea  of  God.  The  human  mind  in 
its  childhood  could  not  grasp  the  sublime 
thought  that  in  all  this  complex  world  there 
is  but  one  God,  and  yet  in  his  childish  and 
crude  way  primitive  man  unconsciously 
gave  expression  to  the  great  principle  of  the 
divine  unity.  Not  that  primitive  man  was 
monotheistic, — for  that  can  no  longer  be 
maintained, — nor  can  we  longer  think  with 
Renan  that  the  Semitic  people  even  had  a 

1 


2  THE  UNITY  OF  GOD 

genius  for  monotheism.  The  study  of  com- 
parative religion  has  rendered  both  these 
views  untenable.  But  primitive  men,  both 
Semites  and  others,  were  henotheists — they 
believed  in  one  god  only  for  their  tribe. 
That  god  was  its  spiritual  chief,  its  father, 
its  cherisher,  its  defender.  While  the  god 
was  mainly  thought  to  be  interested  in  the 
tribe  as  a  whole,  each  individual  as  an  atom 
of  the  tribal  unity  shared  in  the  god's  interest 
and  life.  This  tribe  was  the  individual's 
little  world.  Within  it  life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  were  assured  him  ;  out- 
side of  it  he  had  no  rights  and,  if  he  found 
life  at  all,  it  was  the  agonizing  existence  of 
a  slave. 

Within  the  little  world  of  primitive  man, 
then,  one  god  ruled ;  under  him  all  tribes- 
men were  brothers,  for  in  some  rude  sense 
one  god  was  their  father.  Monotheism  has 
but  enlarged  this  conception  and  applied  it 
to  the  world.  We  now  see  that  one  God  is 
the  father  of  all  men,  and  that  all  men  are 
brethren.  The  primitive  tribe  is  expanded 
and  has  become  coextensive  with  the  human 
race ;  its  home  is  no  longer  some  oasis  in  the 


THE  UNITY  OF  GOD  «3 

Arabian  desert,  some  mountain  fastness  in 
India,  some  marsh  in  Bab}7 Ionia,  or  some 
island  in  the  sea,  but  the  whole  round  world 
with  all  its  variety  of  sea  and  land,  frigid 
poles  and  luxuriant  tropics,  bleak  mountain 
and  fertile  dale,  all  illuminated  with  sun, 
moon  and  myriads  of  stars.  Its  deity  is  no 
longer  thought  to  be  limited  in  power  and 
activity  to  some  insignificant  corner  of  a 
small  land,  but  is  seen  to  rule  the  universe 
as  far  as  the  most  powerful  telescope  can 
carry  human  vision  or  imagination  wing 
the  thought  of  man.  The  ancient  unity 
of  the  tribe  has  become  the  unity  of  the 
universe. 

The  history  of  this  expansion  is  the  his- 
tory of  human  progress  and  civilization.  It 
has  come  through  conquest,  syncretism, 
polytheism ;  through  sacrifice,  devotion, 
deep  thought,  errors  and  revelation.  Israel, 
at  first  a  group  of  henotheistic  tribes,  was 
given  before  all  others  the  practical  concep- 
tion of  the  unity  of  God  and  of  the  world, 
and  began  the  work  of  teaching  the  great 
truth  to  others.  The  conceptions  of  Israel 
were  completed  by  Jesus  Christ,  whose 


4  THE   UNITY   OF   GOD 

followers  are  still  engaged  in  the  work  of 
making  all  men  realize  that  "  God  is  one  " 
and  that  He  "  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men." 

Looking  backward  as  we  now  can,  it 
becomes  apparent  that  the  primitive  tribal 
conception  of  God  contained  in  germ  these 
sublime  conceptions.  It  was  a  type  of  the 
Christian  conception  of  God,  our  Father, 
the  ruler  of  the  universe,  "  in  whom  we  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being."* 


*For  the  details  of  this  tribal  idea  of  God,  see  W.  B.  Smith'* 
Religion  of  the  Semites,  Lector*  II. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NATURE  OF  GOD. 

"  God  is  Spirit."    John,  iv,  24. 

"Yea!    In  Thy  life  our  little  lives  are  ended, 
Into  Thy  depths  our  trembling  spirits  fall ; 

In  Thee  enfolded,  gathered,  comprehended, 
As  holds  the  sea  her  waves — Thou  hold'st  us  all." 

— E,  Scudder. 

NEXT  to  the  conception  of  the  unity  of 
God  comes  the  conception  of  His  spirituality. 
We  are  accustomed  to  think  of  this  as  one 
of  the  great  facts  about  God  which  we  owe 
to  Jesus  Christ,  and  He  did  set  it  before  the 
eyes  of  men  in  a  new  perspective.  The 
thought  of  the  older  time  had,  however, 
given  some  premonition  of  this  lofty  conr 
ception.  It  did  not  burst  on  the  world  full 
fledged  at  once,  but  appeared  first  in  germ, 
then  in  a  blade,  and  at  last  in  the  teaching 
of  Christ  in  its  full  flower. 

The  early  germ  of  this  thought  is  found 
in  those  childish  conceptions  of  deity,  pos- 
sessed by  nearly  all  primitive  peoples,  who 
believe  their  god  to  be  the  genius,  or  spirit 
of  a  spring,  a  tree,  a  rock  or  other  natural 

5 


6  THE   NATURE   OF  GOD 

object.  To  us,  who  are  far  removed  from 
them  in  time  and  in  culture,  these  conceptions 
seem  childish  and  even  gross,  but  the  sym- 
pathetic observer  must  perceive  that,  after 
all,  this  primitive  point  of  view  referred  the 
life  manifested  in  the  tree,  or  in  the  vegeta- 
tion which  the  spring  made  possible,  to 
spiritual  sources,  and  was  the  beginning  of 
the  recognition  of  the  spirituality  of  God. 
When,  a  little  later,  it  was  thought  that 
these  divine  spirits  could  be  persuaded  to 
come  and  live  in  objects  of  the  worshipper's 
selection  or  even  of  his  manufacture,  a  great 
step  forward  was  taken  in  the  recognition 
of  the  spirituality  of  God.  It  is  character- 
istic of  spirit  to  be  free,  mobile  and  inspir- 
ing. If  the  god  could  at  will  go  to  live  in 
an  idol,  he  had  shaken  off  the  limitations 
of  environment,  exercised  the  power  to 
change  his  abode,  and  thus  proven  himself 
to  be  possessed  of  the  powers  of  spiritual 
freedom  such  as  the  worshipper  was  con- 
scious that  he  possessed  himself.  These  be- 
ginnings of  the  recognition  that  God  is  spirit 
can  be  traced  among  the  Hebrews  and  their 
ancestors  as  well  as  among  other  peoples. 


THE    NATURE   OF   GOD  7 

These  ideas  in  the  earliest  stages  of  reli- 
gious thought  proved  helpful  to  those  who 
entertained  them.  They  are  on  a  par  with 
the  intelligence  of  their  possessors  in  other 
matters,  and  proved  not  only  innocent  but 
inspiring.  As  intelligence  increased  these 
conceptions,  perpetuated  by  that  conserva- 
tism which  always  attaches  to  the  sacred 
beliefs  and  practices  of  religion,  became 
grossly  superstitious.  They  were  often 
united  with  ritual,  which  though  once  inno- 
cent, had  become  immoral.  In  order  to 
eradicate  these  debasing  ideas  and  practices, 
the  Hebrews  at  an  early  time  prohibited  the 
use  of  images  of  Jehovah,  and  when  the  law 
of  Deuteronomy  was  adopted  as  the  funda- 
mental religious  law  of  the  commonwealth, 
all  the  old  sanctuaries  except  the  one  at  Jeru- 
salem, were  abolished.  This  was  in  its  turn 
a  great  step  forward.  It  had  come  as  the 
result  of  long  years  of  prophetic  teaching 
and  cost  before  it  was  completed  much  pro- 
phetic effort,  but  it  was  a  great  accomplish- 
ment to  get  the  popular  practice  shaped  in 
accord  with  its  principles.  Most  people 
were  too  far  from  the  sanctuary  to  visit  it 


8  THE  NATURE  OF  GOD 

often  ;  their  prayers  had  to  be  made  directly 
to  the  Great  Spirit  without  even  the  help  of 
a  sanctuary,  so  that  more  than  of  old  they 
realized  the  spirituality  of  God. 

After  the  exile  came  the  unfortunate 
quarrel  with  the  Samaritans  and  the  erection 
of  the  temple  on  Mount  Gerezim.  While 
Jews  and  Samaritans  alike  believed  that 
God  could  be  approached  in  prayer  by  a 
believer  whenever  in  need,  they  nevertheless 
both  thought  that  in  their  own  temple  He 
could  be  approached  better  than  anywhere 
else ;  and,  indeed,  that  if  one  did  not  at 
times  approach  Him  in  His  temple  His 
favor  could  not  be  expected  in  the  same 
degree  as  might  be  hoped,  if  God  were  duly 
worshipped  in  His  chosen  courts.  It  was  at 
this  juncture  in  religious  thought  that  the 
Christ  disclosed  the  great  truth  in  all  its 
beauty,  stripped  of  all  concealing  husk, 
"  God  is  Spirit ;"  "  neither  in  this  mountain 
(Gerezim)  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem  shall  ye 
worship  the  Father."  Thus  the  great  fact 
toward  which  men  had  for  centuries  been 
groping,  shone  out  in  all  its  brilliancy. 
God  is  Spirit;  no  lengthy  pilgrimage  to 


THE    NATURE   OF   GOD  9 

Jerusalem,  to  Rome,  or  to  Mecca  is  longer 
necessary  to  find  God,  or  to  come  into  His 
presence.  Man  is  spirit ;  he  can  find  God 
only  in  the  recesses  of  his  own  heart. 

"Spirit  with  spirit  can  meet." 
The  sailor  on  the  sea,  the  farmer  at  his  toil, 
the  mother  by  the  cradle  of  her  child,  the 
miner  who  quarries  in  the  heart  of  the 
earth,  the  hermit  in  his  cell,  or  the  busy 
man  of  affairs  in  the  world's  most  crowded 
mart, — all  may  come  at  all  times  into  most 
direct  touch  with  the  great  God.  "  If  I 
ascend  into  heaven,  thou  art  there.  If  I 
make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold  thou  art  there." 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  MORAL  NATURE  OF  GOD. 

"God  is  Light;  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all." 
— 1  John,  i,  5. 

"  God's  in  His  heaven, 
All's  right  with  the  world." 

— Browning. 

WE  may  regard  it  as  a  general  rule  that 
a  people's  god  is  the  embodiment  of  its 
highest  ethical  ideal.  This  statement  is, 
broadly  speaking,  true,  though  there  are 
apparent  exceptions  to  it.  These  excep- 
tions are  easily  accounted  for. 

In  the  most  primitive  circles  of  human 
society  an  idea  of  god  is  formed  which 
expresses  the  loftiest  conceptions  of  which 
such  a  people  are  capable.  In  order  to 
give  these  thoughts  of  God  reality  in  the 
minds  of  His  worshippers,  they  are  embod- 
ied in  stories  of  His  goodness  as  good- 
ness is  then  conceived.  In  the  lapse  of 
time  the  ethical  standard  of  such  a  circle 
advances ;  its  morals  become  less  savage, 
its  ideals  more  human.  The  old  myths,  or 
10 


THE  MORAL  NATURE  OF  GOD      11 

tales,  or  histories,  in  which  the  former  con- 
ception of  the  divine  is  embalmed  like  some 
fly  in  the  amber  of  the  Baltic,  remain,  and 
for  a  time  the  anomaly  is  presented  of  a 
people  whose  morals  are  better  than  those 
of  their  god  are  supposed  to  be.  But  this 
condition  is  not  enduring,  and  soon  corrects 
itself.  Such  a  people  soon  shapes  its  tales 
of  the  past  so  that  they  reflect  its  new 
standards  of  life ;  or  if  this  is  not  possible, 
as  when  these  conceptions  have  crystallized 
into  an  Iliad  or  an  Old  Testament,  then 
new  ways  of  interpreting  the  old  narratives 
are  found,  so  that  they  shall  reflect  the 
new  image. 

The  antithesis  between  the  God  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  God  of  the  New  was  felt 
in  the  early  days  of  Christianity.  Marcion 
went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  the  two  could 
not  be  the  same.  In  one  sense  Marcion  was 
right,  but  in  another  he  was  greatly  mis- 
taken. When  we  contrast  the  Jehovah, 
who  brought  bears  out  of  the  wood  to 
devour  little  children,  with  the  Father  of 
Him  who  said,  "  Suffer  little  children,  and 
forbid  them  not,  to  come  unto  me;  for  to 


12      THE  MORAL  NATURE  OF  GOD 

such  belongeth  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
we  are  contrasting  the  knowledge  of  God 
possessed  by  children  in  religion  with  the 
knowledge  of  One  more  than  man.  The 
children  pictured  their  God  as  best  they 
could.  They  were  not  very  wise ;  their 
passions  were  very  strong ;  like  all  their 
kind  they  thought  of  Jehovah  as  One  like 
themselves,  only  greater  and  more  power- 
ful. Christ  the  spiritual  Man, — the  Son  of 
God, — came  to  help  us  to  put  away  childish 
things  in  our  thought  of  the  Father.  We 
do  wrong  to  let  the  childish  idea  of  God's 
nature  supplant  in  our  minds  that  taught 
by  Christ,  but  we  also  do  wrong  to  deny  our 
sympathy  and  respect  to  the  children  whose 
best  thought  seems  to  us  (thanks  to  the 
Master)  so  imperfect. 

And  yet  in  the  Old  Testament  there  is 
many  a  germ  or  type  of  the  spotless  moral 
conception  of  God  which  is  voiced  in  the 
words  :  "  God  is  light  ".  In  one  of  these 
passages  in  the  Old  Testament  which  repre- 
sents God  most  thoroughly  as  a  man, — a 
passage  in  which  a  man  talks  with  Him, 
and  persuades  Him  to  be  merciful, — we 


THE  MORAL  NATURE  OF  GOD      13 

come  upon  the  exclamation :  "  Shall  not 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right?" 
Deeper  than  men's  traditions  of  God,  more 
profound  than  their  creeds  which  have  the 
sanction  of  age,  is  the  conviction  that  God 
is  just,  that  He  is  good,  that  on  Him  the 
soul,  buffeted  and  distressed  by  the  storms 
of  circumstance,  may  rely  for  the  realiza- 
tion of  its  rights  at  last.  This  thought, 
cropping  out  as  it  does  here  and  there  in  the 
Old  Testament,  is  a  germ  of  the  Christian 
conception  of  God. 

The  epistle  of  John  was  written  to  some 
who  doubted  the  divine  goodness.  They 
feared  there  might  be  some  darkness  in  the 
nature  of  God.  Who  has  not  at  times 
shared  this  fear  ?  The  shadows  on  the  Old 
Testament  picture  of  Jehovah,  nature  "  red 
in  tooth  and  claw,"  or  the  dark  annals  of 
the  human  heart  have  led  us  to  question 
whether  God  can  be  really  good.  The 
Christian  message  not  only  assures  us  that 

"  Nothing  can  be  good  in  Him 
Which  evil  is  in  me  ", 

but  that  "  God  is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no 
darkness  at  all." 


14     THE  MORAL  NATURE  OF  GOD 

It  is  only  they  who  have  gained  this 
vision  of  God  who  can  be  really  optimistic. 
One  must  be  able  to  look  at  the  spiritual, 
rather  than  the  material  values  of  life — able 
to  see  that  there  is  in  control  of  the  universe 
one  God,  and  He  the  soul  of  justice — able  to 
discern  the  man  within  the  man  for  whom 
the  Father  is  working  out  an  exceeding 
weight  of  glory,  before  he  can  sing  : 

"  To  one  fixed  stake  my  spirit  clings  ; 
I  know  that  God  is  good  ". 

"  God's  in  His  heaven 
All's  right  with  the  world." 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE   ESSENTIAL   NATURE   OF  GOD. 

"  God  is  love."     I.  John,  iv,  8,  16. 

"  Immortal  love,  forever  full, 

Forever  flowing  free, 
Forever  shared,  forever  \vhole, 

A  never-ebbing  sea." 

—  Whittier. 

THE  simple  sentence,  "  God  is  love/'  con- 
tains the  profoundest  thought  concerning 
God  of  which  the  human  mind  is  capable. 
The  divine  unity,  the  divine  spirituality, 
and  the  divine  justice  are  all  fundamental 
truths;  but  God  might  be  one,  He  might 
be  recognized  as  the  great  spiritual  Soul  of 
the  universe,  and  as  the  embodiment  of 
absolute  justice,  and  still  seem  to  His  crea- 
tures a  cold,  unfeeling  self-centered  being. 
This  one  declaration,  "  God  is  love,"  pierces 
to  the  depths  of  His  nature  like  a  shaft  of 
light,  and  lays  bare  to  us  as  the  controlling 
element  of  the  divine  nature  a  Heart  palpitat- 
ing with  tender,  strong,  and  unselfish  love. 

This  supreme  conception  of  God  did  not 
drop  from  heaven  all  at  once.  It  is  not 

15 


16          THE   ESSENTIAL   NATURE   OF   GOD 

without  its  foreshadowing  type  in  the  old 
Hebrew  and  early  Semitic  conception  of 
God.  The  primitive  Semitic  conception  of 
the  supreme  deity  pictured  her  as  a  mother 
who  was  the  life  giver,  and  who  manifested 
herself  especially  in  the  processes  of  pro- 
duction and  reproduction  in  vegetable  and 
animal  life.  She  was  thought  to  be  most 
pleasingly  served  by  men  when  they  made 
themselves  her  agents  in  those  acts  of 
physical  love  from  which  new  life  springs. 
This  idea  of  deity  led  them  to  institute 
gross  services  for  the  goddess,  which, 
though  innocent  at  first,  became  in  process 
of  time  sources  of  social  corruption  and 
degradation.  It  is  these  services  as  they 
existed  in  Canaan  which  are  vaguely  hinted 
at  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  which  form 
such  a  dark  background  to  Hebrew  social 
life. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  in  this  gross  concep- 
tion of  deity  that  the  germ  of  the  great 
truth  that  "  God  is  love/'  began  to  appear. 
Men  were  taught  that  the  services  of  love  are 
divine.  We  now  know  that  through  mother- 
hood and  fatherhood,  the  prolongation 


THE   ESSENTIAL    NATURE    OF    GOD          17 

of  infancy  in  the  human  race,  and  the 
consequent  necessity  to  struggle  for  the  life 
of  others,  man  has  been  led  to  become  in 
some  sense  a  social  being,  caring  for  the 
things  of  the  spirit,  and  striving  for  unself- 
ish ends.  It  was  through  these  same 
physical  channels  that  the  germ  of  the 
thought  that  "  God  is  love "  first  came  to 
that  race  which  has  become  the  great  reli- 
gious teacher  of  the  world.* 

Imperfect  as  this  germ  was  at  first,  it  was 
a  type  of  the  perfect  flower.  The  crude  con- 
ceptions of  physical  love  and  all  the  gross 
practices  to  which  it  gave  rise  were  gradually 
sloughed  off.  Hosea,  the  great  prophet  of 
the  love  of  God,  gave  to  the  whole  concep- 
tion a  tender,  lofty  and  spiritual  turn,  pic- 
turing God  as  a  faithful  Husband,  who, 
though  wronged  by  His  unfaithful  spouse, 
lovingly  follows  her  and  seeks  by  all  pos- 
sible means  to  restore  her  to  a  life  worthy  of 
His  love.  At  times  he  changes  the  meta- 
phor, and  God  becomes  to  Hosea's  thought 
a  loving  Father  following  prodigal  Ephraim 


*For  further  fact*  concerning  this  see  the  writer's  Sketch  of  Sem- 
itic Origins,  Social  and  fieligicus,  chs.  ill.  and  vii. 


18          THE   ESSENTIAL   NATURE   OP   GOD 

and  seeking  to  guide  his  wayward  steps. 
This  thought  of  Hosea  was  echoed  by  sub- 
sequent prophets,  but  it  never  found  full 
recognition,  nor  indeed  adequate  spiritual 
expression  till  it  was  transfigured  and  glori- 
fied in  the  teaching  and  work  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  then  it  waited  till  the  end  of 
the  first  century  for  a  writer  to  crystallize 
it  into  this  gem  of  a  religious  definition. 

This  conception  of  God  which  thus 
struggled  for  expression  through  the  gross 
ritual  of  primitive  times,  through  the  pangs 
of  prophetic  travail,  and  the  sorrows  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  is  the  final  conception  of  God. 
Man  must  have  some  new  faculties  before 
he  can  form  a  higher  conception  of  his 
Creator  and  Father.  If  God  be  love,  through 
all  the  ages  He  has  been  living  the  unselfish 
life  of  love  ;  He  has  been  giving  Himself. 
He  is  not  the  self-centered  being,  which  we 
have  pictured  Him,  sitting  apart  like  some 
absolute  monarch,  and  so  shaping  the 
course  of  human  events  that  either  the 
homage  of  worshippers,  or  the  wails  of  the 
rebellious,  should  contribute  to  His  selfish 
glory.  Not  so  is  His  glory  to  be  pictured. 


THE    ESSENTIAL    NATURE    OF   GOD          19 

His  is  the  glory,  not  of  possession  only,  but 
of  impartation  ;  not  of  having,  but  of  giving ; 
not  simply  of  being,  but  of  helping  others  to 
be.  In  a  word,  His  glory  is  His  goodness  ; 
"  God  is  love." 

Great  as  are  the  truths,  "God  is  one," 
"  God  is  Spirit,"  and  "  God  is  light,"  they 
are  all  crowned  and  glorified  by  the  sublim- 
est  truth  concerning  Him,  "  God  is  love." 


CHAPTER  V. 

GOD  MANIFEST  IN  THE  FLESH. 

"  We  all  with  unveiled  face  see  as  if  reflected  in  a 
mirror  the  the  glory  of  the  Lord."    2  Cor.,  iii,  18, 

"  Deep  strike  thy  roots,  O  heavenly  Vine, 

Within  our  earthly  sod, 
Most  human  and  yet  most  divine, 
The  flower  of  man  and  God  !  " 

—  Whittier. 

THE  conception  that  God  has  manifested 
Himself  in  human  form,  or  in  a  human  life, 
has  been  found  among  many  peoples.  It 
also  existed  among  the  early  Hebrews  as  the 
Old  Testament  witnesses.  In  the  earliest 
document,  or  collection  of  narratives,  which 
the  Bible  contains  there  are  several  expres- 
sions of  this  conception.  Thus,  in  Genesis 
xvi,  Hagar  was  met  by  the  angel  of  Jehovah 
who  talked  with  her,  giving  her  reassuring 
promises,  and  when  he  had  gone  she  believed 
that  Jehovah  had  been  talking  with  her. 
In  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  same  book, 
three  men  came  to  Abraham's  tent  and 
were  entertained,  and  the  traditions  of  after 
days  asserted  that  one  of  them  turned  out 
20 


GOD   MANIFEST   IN   THE  FLESH  21 

to  be  Jehovah  Himself.  Again,  in  the  sixth 
of  Judges,  an  angel  of  Jehovah  appeared  to 
Gideon,  who  seems  in  the  sequel  to  have 
been  Jehovah  Himself. 

All  these  instances  indicate  that  back  of 
these  narratives  there  lay  a  time  when  it 
was  thought  that  God  manifested  Himself 
to  individuals  upon  important  occasions  in 
human  form.  A  little  later  this  view  was 
superseded  by  the  conception  that  He  sent 
his  angel  or  messenger  upon  such  occasions 
to  carry  his  messages.  When  the  narratives 
were  written,  to  which  reference  has  been 
made,  Israelitish  thought  hovered  on  the 
borderland  between  the  two.  An  angel 
might  come,  but  he  might  in  the  end  turn 
out  to  be  God  Himself. 

Another  conception  similar  to  these,  and 
which  either  grew  out  of  them  or  sprang 
from  the  same  root,  is  the  thought  that  God 
might  impart  to  an  angel  His  face  or  His 
presence  (in  Hebrew  the  two  are  expressed 
by  the  same  term),  and  thus  manifest  Him- 
self to  men.  At  least,  such  is  the  thought 
expressed  by  the  Hebrew  text  of  Isaiah.  (The 
earliest  translation,  the  Greek,  has  a  different 


22  GOD   MANIFEST   IN   THE   FLESH 

idea  of  it).  In  the  thirty-third  of  Exodus 
we  are  told  that  Moses  prayed  that  the 
presence  of  God  should  go  with  him  and 
the  people  along  the  untrodden  path,  upon 
which  they  were  about  to  enter,  and  that 
he  received  the  promise  :  "  My  presence 
shall  go  with  thee."  The  prophet,  in  speak- 
ing of  it,  in  poetic  strain,  says :  "  In  all 
their  afflictions  He  was  afflicted,  and  the 
angel  of  His  presence  moved  them."  * 

That  God  could  come  thus  into  human 
form,  or  impart  His  presence  in  an  angel, 
was  a  type  of  the  Christian's  conception  of 
the  manifestation  of  God  in  Christ.  Like 
all  types  it  appears  in  a  crude  form  when 
compared  to  the  great  truth  of  which  it 
was  the  rudimentary  expression,  but  it  help- 
fully embodied  for  a  time  the  great  truth 
that  divinity  comes  into  our  humanity. 

Kindred  to  the  thoughts  we  have  been 
pursuing  is  the  conception  that  God  could 
impart  His  name  to  an  angel.  The  divine 
name  was  considered  the  embodiment  of  all 
the  divine  attributes ;  it  was  so  holy  that 
when  it  was  blasphemed,  he  who  had  thus 

*  Isaiah  Ixiii,  9. 


GOD    MANIFEST   IN   THE   FLESH  23 

transgressed  was  executed  as  a  criminal 
(Lev.  xxiv,  11).  Notwithstanding  this,  we 
are  told  (Ex.  xxiii,  21),  that  God  declared 
His  name  to  be  in  an  angel.  It  is  a  similar 
thought  which  Paul  takes  up  in  the  epistle 
to  the  Phillippians,  when  he  declares,  in 
speaking  of  Christ :  "  Wherefore  also  God 
highly  exalted  Him,  and  gave  him  the  name 
which  is  above  every  name." 

These  early  Hebrew  thoughts  of  the  way 
God  manifested  Himself  to  men  receive 
more  than  their  fulfilment  in  Christ.  In 
Him  we  have  not  a  transient  manifestation 
of  the  presence  of  God,  but  the  permanent 
union  of  the  divine  nature  with  a  human 
nature ;  not  a  mechanical  impartation  of  a 
few  divine  qualities,  but  the  indwelling  of 
God  in  a  human  body  and  a  human  psycho- 
logical organism.  Such  an  indwelling  was 
not  to  conceal  the  glory  of  the  Father,  but 
to  reveal  it  so  that  men  could  understand 
it.  God  in  Christ  is  seen  not  to  be  a  cosmic 
vastness  without  a  heart  to  care  for  the 
creatures  which  people  the  world ;  but  a 
God  of  love,  whom  we,  beholding  in  Christ 
as  in  a  mirror,  shall,  by  the  transforming 


24  GOD   MANIFEST    IN   THE   FLESH 

power  of  the  sight,  come  to  resemble.  "  The 
incarnation  was  the  eternal  become  tem- 
poral for  a  little  time,  that  we  might  look 
at  it."  * 


*  Henry  Drummond,  The  Idtal  Life.  p.  147. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHRIST,  THE  REVELATION  OF  GOD. 

"In  the  beginning  was  the  Word."  John  i,  1. 
"Christ  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of 
God."  1  Cor.  i,  24. 

"  We  faintly  hear,  we  dimly  see, 
In  differing  phrase  we  pray  ; 
But  dim  or  clear,  we  own  in  thee 
The  Light,  the  Truth,  the  Way." 

—  Whittier. 

OTHER  half-blind,  half-luminous  premoni- 
tions, of  what  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment saw  in  Christ  are  found  in  the  person- 
ifications of  "  wisdom  "  and  "  word  "  in  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  Old  Testament  and  in  other 
pre-Christian  Jewish  writings. 

Israelitish  writers  frequently  personify  the 
spoken  word  of  God,  which,  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  is  said  to  have  been  so 
potent  in  the  creation  of  the  world.  God's 
word,  said  Jeremiah,  is  like  a  fire  and  like  a 
hammer  which  breaks  the  rock.1  Another 
prophet  conceived  the  divine  word  as  capa- 
ble of  being  sent  on  a  mission,  which  it 

'Jer.  xxiii,  29. 

25 


26       CHRIST,   THE   REVELATION   OF   GOD 

would  not  return  without  accomplishing.1 
Similarly  a  psalmist  thought  the  word  of 
God  could  be  sent  on  a  mission  of  heal- 
ing.2 "  By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the 
heavens  made,"  sang  another,3  while  a  later 
writer  exclaimed,  "  0  God,  who  hast  made 
all  things  by  thy  word."4  This  latter  writer 
represents  the  divine  word  as  leaping  down 
from  heaven  like  a  man  of  war  into  the 
midst  of  the  Egyptians  for  their  destruc- 
tion,8 thus  making  a  very  strong  personifi- 
cation of  the  word  of  God. 

Among  the  Greeks  the  term  "  word  "  had 
also  been  used  for  some  five  hundred  years 
to  denote  a  manifestation  of  God.  It  was 
first  used  by  Heraclitus,  and  had  been  used 
by  many  philosophers  after  him.  In  the 
Gospel  of  John  these  two  ways  of  describing 
the  self-revealing  power  of  God,  the  one 
Hebrew  in  its  origin,  and  the  other  Greek, 
meet  and  unite,  and  the  mind  of  the  evan- 
gelist finds  in  Christ  their  full  realization, 
and  in  them  types  of  Him.  "  God,"  says 
another  writer,  "  having  spoken  unto  the 


»lBa.  lv,    11.      »Ps.  cvii,  20.     'Ps.xxxiii,  6.      'Wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon ix,  1.     *  Wisdom  of  Solomon  xviii,  14. 


CHRIST,    THE  REVELATION   OF   GOD        27 

fathers  in  the  prophets  by  divers  portions 
and  in  divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of 
these  days  spoken  unto  us  in  His  Son."1 
God  had  been  speaking  to  men  from  the 
beginning  ;  gradually  they  had  perceived 
that  the  whole  universe  was  an  expression 
of  His  will, — that  it  was  formed  by  His 
word, — that  His  word  accomplished  all 
things.  After  the  Christ  had  come  they 
saw  that  God's  Word — the  clearest  expression 
of  His  thoughts  and  purposes  for  men — 
had  actually  been  living  in  their  midst. 
"The  Word  became  flesh  and  tabernacled 
among  us." 

Somewhat  similar  is  the  way  in  which 
the  word,  "  wisdom "  became  a  type  of 
Christ.  In  Job  the  preciousness  and  mys- 
teriousness  of  wisdom  is  charmingly  set 
forth  ;2  as  it  also  is  in  the  third  chapter  of 
Proverbs.  The  climax  is  reached,  however, 
in  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  same  book 
where  wisdom  is  made  to  declare  in  poetic 
strain : 

"  When  He  established  the  heavens,  I  was  there  : 
When  He  set  a  circle  upon  the  face  of  the  deep, 


»Heb.  1, 1-2.    'Jo 


28        CHRIST,    THE   REVELATION   OF   GOD 

When  He  made  firm  the  skies  above, 

****** 

"  Then  I  was  by  Him  as  a  master  workman  ; 
And  I  was  daily  His  delight, 
Rejoicing  always  before  Him, 
Rejoicing  in  His  habitable  earth."1 

In  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  the  same  strain 
is  continued.  In  the  seventh  and  eighth 
chapters  the  author's  fervid  enthusiasm  for 
his  grand  conception  trembles  on  the  verge 
of  making  wisdom  an  actual  person.  In  a 
magnificent  description  he  ascribes  to  wis- 
dom all  conceivable  heavenly  qualities  and 
beneficent  activities,  so  that  she  seems  at 
times  to  be  almost  an  independent  being. 

Thus  the  way  was  prepared  for  the 
apostle's  declaration  :  "  Christ  is  the  wis- 
dom of  God."  Wisdom  to  the  Hebrew  was 
not  mere  knowledge.  It  included  all  prac- 
tical wisdom  in  the  management  of  affairs 
and  the  conduct  of  life.  It  mounted  to  the 
religious  sphere,  beginning  in  the  fear  of 
God.  More  than  the  Hebrew  sage  thought 
he  found  in  wisdom,  the  manifestation  of 
the  divine  power  and  benignity,  the  Christian 

lProv.  viii,  27-31. 


CHRIST,    THE    REVELATION    OF    GOD        29 

finds  in  Him  who  said  "  I  am  the  Way,  the 
Truth  and  the  Life." 

"  In  Him  again 

We  see  the  same  first,  starry  attribute  ; 
'  Perfect  through  suffering,'  our  salvation's  seal 
Set  in  the  front  of  His  Humanity. 
For  God  has  other  Words  for  other  worlds, 
But  for  this  world  the  Word  of  God  is  Christ." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CHRIST,  THE  MESSIAH. 

"  I  am  the  Messiah."    John  iv,  26. 

"  Strong  Son  of  God,  immortal  Love." 

— Tennyson, 

ISRAEL'S  conception  of  a  Messiah  in  an- 
other way  prepared  for  the  coming  of  Christ. 
The  way  in  which  worldly  and  physical  con- 
ceptions may  in  process  of  time  be  trans- 
formed into  spiritual  ideas  is  nowhere  better 
illustrated  than  in  the  history  of  the  Mes- 
sianic idea. 

This  idea  first  found  a  home  in  Hebrew 
hearts  after  the  beginning  ot  the  kingdom. 
In  the  earliest  period  of  Israel's  history  only 
the  kings  were  anointed,  though  afterwards 
it  became  the  custom  to  anoint  the  priests 
also.  The  first  to  be  called  "the  Lord's 
Anointed,"  (i.  e.,  the  Lord's  Messiah,  or 
Christ),  was  king  Saul,  who  was  thus  desig- 
nated by  David.  In  due  time  David  himself 
became  the  king,  or  "  the  Lord's  Anointed." 
David,  too,  united  Israel  into  a  nation  as 
she  had  never  been  united  before,  and  by  his 
30 


CHRIST,   THE   MESSIAH  31 

conquests  over  the  surrounding  countries, 
established  an  empire  which  held  in  subjec- 
tion many  vassal  nations.  This  national 
glory  lasted  through  the  reign  of  Solomon, 
after  which  dissension  and  division  within, 
and  increased  power  on  the  part  of  neigh- 
boring nations  without,  caused  Israel  gradu- 
ally to  sink  from  the  position  of  mistress  to 
that  of  vassal. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that 
devout  minds  began  to  think  of  a  Messiah, ' 
or  an  Anointed  of  the  Lord,  who  could  re- 
store their  old  fortunes.  It  was  natural  that 
then  they  should  look  back  to  the  reign  of 
David  and  his  kingdom  as  the  pattern  of 
all  which  they  desired.  Thus  Hosea  pic- 
tured the  Messiah  as  "  David  their  king  "  ; l 
Isaiah  as  a  kingly  warrior,  supernatural  in 
strength,2  who  should  establish  a  kingdom 
of  perfect  righteousness  and  justice.3  While 
this  ideal  continued  to  fill  the  hearts  of  pro- 
phetic enthusiasts  with  hope,  the  exile  came 
and  went,  and  the  long  years  of  the  Persian 
supremacy  dragged  on  without  bringing  ap- 
parently nearer  the  realization  of  their  hopes. 

1  Hos.  iii,  5.  "  Isa.  ix,  6.  »  IK.  xi. 


32  CHRIST,   THE   MESSIAH 

As  one  generation  after  another,  which 
had  shared  in  these  expectations,  died,  the 
conceptions  entertained  of  the  kingdom 
gradually  changed.  At  first  it  had  been 
thought  that  only  those  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  be  alive  at  the  appearing  of  the 
Messiah  would  share  in  it,  but  afterward  it 
was  thought  that  in  connection  with  the 
coining  of  the  Messiah  the  dead  would  be 
raised,  that  the  pious  Israelitas  who  had 
died  in  hope  might  share  in  the  joys  of  the 
kingdom,  and  that  their  foes,  who  had  been 
permitted  to  die  unpunished,  might  meet 
their  proper  reward.1  At  the  same  time 
greater  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  super- 
natural character  of  the  kingdom.  Men 
began  to  expect  it  to  descend  in  some  way 
from  heaven,  or  to  expect  God  to  come  down 
in  some  especial  manifestation  in  order  to 
inaugurate  it.  The  great  monarchies,  at 
whose  hands  Israel  had  suffered,  were  typi- 
fied by  beasts ;  the  emblem  of  this  kingdom 
was  a  "  Son  of  man."  This  term  denoted  at 
first  that  Israel's  future  empire  was  to  be 
less  savage  and  more  noble  in  character 

1  Dan.  xii,  3,  4. 


CHRIST,    THE   MESSIAH  33 

than  the  great  world  monarchies  which 
had  preceded  it ;  but  in  a  little  while  it 
became  a  name  for  the  expected  Messiah 
himself. 

The  years,  however,  still  dragged  on,  and 
the  great  empires,  though  they  changed, 
seemed  to  grow  ever  more  powerful.  Natur- 
ally men  asked  themselves  with  increasing 
earnestness  whence  one  could  come  who 
should  be  powerful  enough  to  contend  with 
these,  and  with  gradually  increasing  clear- 
ness the  answer  seemed  to  them  to  be  that 
he  must  be  from  heaven. 1  They,  therefore, 
began  to  believe  in  the  pre-existence  of  the 
Messiah,  and  to  think  of  him  as  one  whose 
destiny  had  been  from  the  beginning  more 
glorious  before  God  than  that  of  any  of  the 
angels.  They  called  him  the  Son  of  God,8 
and  expected  him  to  be  revealed  from 
heaven. 

When  Christ  came  the  Jewish  world  was 
deeply  stirred  by  the  expectation  of  this  Mes- 
siah. When  Jesus  had  been  accepted  by 
His  followers  as  the  long-expected  "  Lord's 


1  Ethiopia  Enoch  xlviii,  1-3 ;  xlix,  2-4  ;  li,  1-3 ;  and  Apocalypse  of 
Baruch  xxx,  1.    «  Eth.  Enoch  cv,  2.  4  Esd.  xiv.  9. 


34  CHRIST,   THE   MESSIAH 

Anointed,"  it  is  easy  for  us  to  see  why  they 
thought  of  Him  as  having  had  a  pre- 
existent  life  with  God,  and  why  they  so 
readily  recognized  Him  as  the  Son  of  God. 

The  nature  of  the  kingdom  which  Christ 
announced  was,  however,  very  different  from 
that  which  His  contemporaries  expected. 
They  looked  for  one  who  would  make  Jeru- 
salem a  new  Rome ;  He  labored  to  establish 
a  kingdom  of  truth.  They  longed  to  con- 
quer the  world  and  wreak  vengeance  on 
their  enemies;  He  taught  the  conquest  of 
one's  own  spirit  and  the  forgiveness  of  ene- 
mies. They  longed  to  rule  the  world  ;  He 
taught  them  to  serve  the  world.  They 
dreamed  of  a  kingdom  of  force ;  He  estab- 
lished a  kingdom  of  love.  The  Messianic 
conception  prepared  the  way  for  the  work 
of  Christ,  but  He  so  transformed  it  that  it 
has  become  an  ideal,  first  of  Spiritual  life 
with  God,  and  then  of  a  human  society  in 
which  all  shall  recognize  that  they  are 
brethren  because  all  look  upon  God  as 
Father. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CHRIST,  THE   CAPTAIN   OF  SALVA- 
TION. 

"  He  Himself  hath  suffered  being  tempted.  Heb.  ii,  18. 

"  Where  now  with  pain  thou  treadest,  trod 
The  whitest  of  the  saints  of  God  ! 
To  show  thee  where  their  feet  were  set, 
The  light  which  led  them  shine th  yet." 

—  Whittier. 

How  Christ  transformed  the  current  views 
of  the  Messiah  and  the  Messianic  kingdom 
will  come  more  clearly  to  our  view,  if  we 
study  carefully  the  narrative  of  His  tempta- 
tion. 

His  inner  nature  we  cannot  fully  compre- 
hend. We  do  not  understand  fully  the 
inner  life  of  the  great  geniuses  of  our  race, 
much  less  can  we  hope  to  understand  all  the 
workings  of  His  mind.  The  Gospels  make 
it  clear,  however,  that  He  had  not  only  a 
human  body,  but  a  human  mind.  He 
grew  in  wisdom  as  well  as  in  stature.1 
This  implies  that  at  first  He  was  not  con- 
scious of  His  exalted  mission  as  the  Messiah. 

»  Luke  ii,  52. 

35 


36     CHRIST,  THE   CAPTAIN   OF  SALVATION 

Without  doubt  He  was  conscious  of  God's 
fatherhood  as  no  other  had  ever  been,  for 
He  felt  as  a  mere  boy  the  duty  and  the 
delight  of  being  occupied  with  the  things  of 
His  Father.1  But  at  the  time  of  His  bap- 
tism an  illumination,  unique  even  for  Him, 
convinced  Him  that  He  was  none  other 
than  the  long  expected  Messiah.  The  voice 
which  said  to  His  heart,  "  Thou  art  my 
beloved  Son,"  was  the  divine  assurance  of 
the  Messianic  calling. 

Conscious  as  He  had  long  been  of  the 
spiritual  significance  of  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  and  of  the  higher  aspects  of  relation- 
ship with  Him,  conscious  too  of  the  marvel- 
lous nature  and  role  which  the  Messiah  was 
expected  to  possess,  He  retired  to  the  wilder- 
ness to  think  over  His  lofty  opportunities 
and  responsibilities.  Lifted  at  first  above 
the  notice  of  ordinary  necessities,  His  exalted 
meditations  were  at  last  interrupted  by  the 
rude  demands  of  hunger.  This  seems  to 
have  brought  about  a  crisis  in  His  thought. 
Could  the  Messiah  hunger  ?  His  reign,  the 
Jews  believed,  was  to  be  inaugurated  by  a 

•Lukeii,  49. 


CHKIST,  THE   CAPTAIN   OF   SALVATION     37 

great  feast.  Could  the  heavenly  Being,  who 
was  popularly  believed  to  have  had  such  an 
exalted  and  glorious  career  before  God  from 
the  beginning,  really  be  subject  to  the  laws 
of  the  physical  life  as  ordinary  mortals  were  ? 
If  He  were  really  the  Son  of  God  should 
not  supernatural  power  enable  Him  to  put 
away  at  once  the  clamorous  demands  of  this 
earthly  nature  ? 

No  !  was  His  reply  ;  it  is  far  more  import- 
ant to  obey  God's  will  than  to  escape  from 
the  sufferings  and  the  limitations  which  He 
has  appointed !  Messiahship  means,  not 
exemption  from  the  common  lot  of  men,  but 
the  ability  to  take  up  that  lot  and  do  God's 
appointed  work  in  it ;  not  selfish  ease,  but 
unselfish  service.  Thus  He  put  aside  one 
of  the  temptations  which  the  prevailing 
Messianic  expectations  brought  to  Him. 

But  this  was  only  the  beginning.  If  He 
could  not  use  the  power  which  men  expected 
the  Messiah  to  possess  for  His  own  ease,  was 
He  really  to  be  the  king  for  whom  they 
were  looking  ?  *  He  could  not  help  know- 
ing how  gladly  His  countrymen,  groaning 

1  Luke,  I  believe,  gives  the  temptations  in  their  true  order. 


38     CHRIST,  THE   CAPTAIN   OF  SALVATION 

as  they  were  under  the  hated  yoke  of  Rome, 
would  rally  to  His  standard,  were  He  but  to 
proclaim  Himself  their  heaven-sent  deliv- 
erer.    Worldly  power  and  magnificence,  the 
glory  and  the  adulation  which  accompany 
empire,  for  one  brief  moment  tempted  even 
Him ;  then  He  put  them  resolutely  aside. 
He   had   not   lived   those    thirty  years   of 
unique  communion  with  the  Father  with- 
out knowing  that  the  real  service  of  God 
was  not  thus  performed.    The  real  kingdom 
of  God  he  knew  to  be  in  the  hearts  of  men ; 
the  real  conquest  of  men  by  God  must  be 
not  a  conquest   of  arms,  but  of  love ;  the 
weapons   of  the   war  must   be   the  imple- 
ments of  loving  service,  not  the  deadly  arms  of 
martial  force ;  accordingly  the  alluring  vision 
of  the  popularly  expected  empire  was  calmly 
dismissed,  and  the  way  of  toilsome  self-sacri- 
fice and  of  the  cross  was  deliberately  chosen. 
One  other  temptation,  however,  came  to 
Him.     Were   all  these   fervid   descriptions 
of  the  Messiah's  supernatural  nature  to  have 
no  outward  fulfilment  ?      Might  He  not  at 
least  make  some  external  display  at  Jerusa- 
salem  before  the  eyes  of  assembled  thousands 


CHRIST,  THE   CAPTAIN   OF   SALVATION     39 

of  the  exalted  nature  which  was  His.  No  ! 
That,  too,  would  be  wrong  ;  it  would  be  an 
attempt  to  test  God,  or  to  force  Him  to  dis- 
play His  intimate  connection  with  the  Mes- 
siah. The  only  right  way  was  to  take  the 
path  of  duty,  to  assume  the  burdens  of 
service  and  the  lowly  place  of  a  servant, 
and  leave  God  to  manifest  the  divinity  and 
majesty  of  it  all  as  He  might  see  was  best. 

Thus,  in  the  mind  of  the  Master  the  old 
conceptions  of  the  Messiah  and  the  Mes- 
sianic king  were  forever  put  aside,  and  His 
life  was  devoted  to  the  establishment  of  the 
spiritual  kingdom  of  love.  The  roots  of 
the  Messianic  idea  go  back  to  the  natural 
soil  of  the  earthly  and  half-barbarous  em- 
pires of  Saul  and  David,  but  its  flower 
which  appeared  on  earth  in  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ,  is  multiplying  more  and  more  and  is 
the  ideal  for  the  highest  life  of  earth  and 
the  perfect  life  of  heaven. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

"  But  when  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will  send 
you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth, 
which  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  He  shall  bear 
witness  of  me."  John  xv,  26. 

"Speak  to  him  thou  for  He  hears,  and  Spirit  with 

spirit  can  meet — 
Closer  is  He  than  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands 

and  feet." 

— Tennyson. 

IN  very  early  times  man  perceived  that  it 
was  the  inner,  impalpable  part  of  him  that 
thought,  planned,  and  aspired.  This  led  him 
to  suppose  that  his  God  was  possessed  of  a 
Spirit  analogous  to  his  own.  As  a  great 
man  could  inspire  others  with  his  courage 
or  spirit  in  great  crises,  such  as  important 
battles,  so  it  was  thought  that  God  could 
impart  to  men  on  such  occasions  the  cour- 
age and  might  of  His  own  spirit.  Thus  it 
happens  that  in  the  early  days  of  Israel's 
history  we  hear  of  the  Spirit  of  God  chiefly 
in  connection  with  the  warlike  exploits  of 
military  heroes,  such  as  Samson  and  Saul.1 

ISee  Judges  xi v,  6, 19 ;  1  Sam.  xvi,  11 
40 


THE   HOLY   SPIRIT  41 

This  was,  however,  the  lowly  beginning  of 
the  entrance  into  men's  minds  of  the  sub- 
lime truth  that  the  Spirit  of  God  enters  into 
the  hearts  of  men  and  communes  with 
them. 

A  few  centuries  later,  when  the  inward 
and  spiritual  nature  of  religion  was  more 
clearly  perceived,  the  spirit  of  God  was  be- 
lieved to  enter  into  communion  with  the 
hearts  of  His  prophets,  to  inspire,  to  illumi- 
nate, to  instruct  them,  and  to  impart  to 
them  His  will.1  One  of  the  Psalmists, — 
that  one  who  most  clearly  perceived  the 
inward  and  spiritual  nature  of  sin,2 — 
grasped  the  truth  that  the  joyful  communion 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  is  conditioned  upon  the 
possession  of  a  pure  heart. 

In  the  period  represented  by  the  Old 
Testament  Apocryphal  books,  some  noble 
conceptions  concerning  the  Spirit  of  God 
were  entertained.  One  writer  sang  of  it  as 
the  Spirit  which  fills  the  world,  and  is  in 
all  things.3  Another  speaks  of  it  as  the 
image  of  God,  and  the  indivisible  source  of 


JCf.  Isa.  xlviii,  16,  Ps.  li,  12,  Dan.  iv,  8.      2Ps.  li,  12.      "Wisdom  of 
Solomon  i.  7,  and  xii,  1. 


42  THE   HOLY   SPIRIT 

understanding  and  knowledge.1  None  of 
these  pre-Christian  writers  regarded  the 
Spirit  as  a  distinct  person  of  the  Godhead; 
but  their  conceptions,  which  advanced 
steadily  from  the  crude  germ  of  the  days  of 
the  Judges,  prepared  the  way  for  the  lofty 
conceptions  of  Christianity. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Synoptic  narrative 
of  Christ's  ministry2  we  are  told  that  the 
Spirit  descended  as  a  dove  and  abode  upon 
Him.  This  means,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
then  a  new  illumination  came  to  Him, 
which  made  clear  to  Him  what  His  exalted 
mission  and  work  were  to  be.  Thus  we  are 
taught  by  His  experience  to  look  upon  the 
Spirit  as  the  source  of  inspiration  for  lofty 
duties,  and  the  guide  into  the  deeper  ex- 
periences of  life. 

According  to  the  Gospel  of  John,3  Christ, 
in  His  last  discourse  with  His  disciples, 
promised  to  send  the  Spirit  to  be  a  Comforter 
and  Guide, — to  take  the  place  in  their 
thoughts  and  hearts  which  He  had  Himself 
occupied,  and  to  lead  and  inspire  them  as 


'Viz  :— Philo.  See  Toy's  Judaism  and  Christianity,  p.  92.    »Mk. 
i,  10 ;  Mt.  iii,  16  ;  Lu.  iii,  22.     Mohn  iv,  26,  xvi,  13. 


THE   HOLY   SPIRIT  43 

He  had  done.  A  later  record  tells  us  of 
the  great  experience  when  that  promise 
began  to  be  fulfilled,  as  that  experience  was 
gratefully  remembered  by  a  later  generation. 

Paul,  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans, 
teaches  that  it  is  the  function  of  the  Spirit 
to  commune  with,  inspire  and  guide  the 
regenerate  nature  of  man.  This  regenerate 
nature  he  terms  spirit,  in  part  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  natural  unregenerate  soul,  and 
in  part  to  indicate  its  kinship  to  the  Divine 
Spirit,  with  which  it  holds  communion. 
He  here  portrays  the  ideal  experience  of 
every  Christian.  To  possess  a  purified  spirit, 
to  walk  through  life's  hard  paths  under  its 
control  rather  than  under  the  hateful  con- 
trol of  the  passions  which  spring  from  the 
flesh,  to  be  led  and  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  continually, — this  is  to  be  a  Christian — 
a  child  of  God.  How  exalted  the  privilege  ! 
How  few  live  on  these  lofty  table  lands  ! 

Though  few  attain  to  the  highest  experi- 
ences to  which  the  Spirit  would  lead  them, 
in  some  degree  He  comes  to  every  believer. 
To  every  Christian,  says  Paul  in  another 

•Actsii.    *Vs.  4-9. 


44  THE   HOLY   SPIRIT 

passage,1  is  given  a  manifestation  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  He  gives  to  each  his  own 
peculiar  gifts,  and  inspires  each  to  his  own 
peculiar  work.  No  other  can  do  that  work, 
but  by  the  harmonious  union  of  all  gifts, 
great  and  small,  the  great  work  of  God  will 
make  progress  in  the  world. 

More  than  this,  the  Spirit  visits  every 
man,  strives  with  him,  teaches  him  to  "  deny 
irreverence  and  lust "  and  to  live  a  life  of 
righteousness  and  peace.8  Not  the  posses- 
sion of  a  privileged  few  is  the  Spirit  of  God. 
The  heart  of  every  man,  black  or  white, 
high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  at  times  is 
conscious  of  the  presence  of  this  heavenly 
Visitor.  Those  who  heed  His  promptings 
experience  a  lasting  peace  and  an  eternal 
joy.  "  Love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering,  pati- 
ence, meekness,  kindness,"  and  all  other 
"  fruits  of  the  Spirit"  adorn  and  make  glori- 
ous their  lives,3 


»1  Cor.  xii,  7.      "Titus  ii,  12.    »Gal.  v,  22. 


CHAPTER  X 

MAN. 

"  Thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than  God." 
Ps.  viii,  5. 

"  For  we  are  also  His  offspring.     Acts  xvii,  28. 

"  All  that  hath  been  majestical 
In  Me  or  death,  since  time  began, 
Is  native  in  the  simple  heart  of  all, 
The  angel  heart  of  Man." 

— Lowell. 

THERE  are  two  sides  to  human  nature,  an 
animal  or  savage  side,  and  a  noble  godlike 
side.  The  consciousness  of  every  man  bears 
witness  to  this.  Under  some  circumstances 
man  seems  to  be  a  demon  incarnate ;  in 
others,  an  angel  of  God.  The  dual  nature  of 
man  is  recognized  in  the  oldest  Biblical  nar- 
rative of  his  origin,  the  second  chapter  of 
Genesis.  God,  we  are  told,  moulded  the 
form  of  man  from  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
and  "  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath 
of  life ;  and  man  became,  a  living  soul." 
Kindred  on  his  bodily  side  to  the  lowly  and 
material  earth,  man  is  here  conceived  to  be 
in  spirit  akin  to  God  Himself.  His  inner 

45 


46  MAN 

nature  is  declared  to  be  an  afflatus  from  the 
Eternal  Spirit., 

Some  centuries  later  another  writer  put  on 
record  his  conception  of  the  creation  of  man. 
We  now  have  his  version  of  it  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis.  His  conception  of  God 
was  far  more  exalted  than  that  of  the  earlier 
writer ;  God  is  no  longer  represented  as 
moulding  the  form  of  man  from  the  dust  of 
the  ground  as  a  potter  might  do,  but  in 
sovereign  majesty  speaks  the  creative  word 
and  man  becomes  man.  This  writer  had, 
however,  the  same  conception  of  the  higher 
nature  of  man  as  that  set  forth  by  his  pre- 
decessor, although  he  expressed  it  in  a  dif- 
ferent way.  God,  he  declared,  made  man  in 
His  own  image.  Perhaps  he  was  thinking  in 
some  degree  of  the  bodily  form  of  man,  but 
probably  also  of  his  inner  nature,  in  which 
man  yearns  for  God,  thinks  in  some  measure 
God's  thoughts,  and  aspires  to  be  like  Him. 

Man  is  a  child  of  God.  He  was  given  at 
his  creation  a  spark  of  the  Father's  own 
nature.  This  truth  is  in  various  ways  ex- 
pressed in  both  the  Old  Testament  and  in 
the  New.  The  psalmist  sang  : 


MAN  47 

"  Thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than  God, 
And  crownest  him  with  glory  and  honor." 

Christ  taught  in  the  Parable  of  the  Prodigal 
Son,  that  man  was  still  God's  child  no  mat- 
ter how  degraded  he  might  become  or  how 
far  he  might  wander  from  the  Father's 
house.  God  is  his  Father  in  spite  of  all, 
and,  prompted  by  a  Father's  love,  God  long- 
ingly waits  for  the  prodigal's  return.  Paul 
echoed  the  same  truth  at  Athens  in  lan- 
guage borrowed  from  a  Greek  poet.  We, 
he  said  in  substance,  are  of  divine  de- 
scent ;  children  resemble  their  parents ;  we 
ought  not,  therefore,  to  entertain  unworthy 
thoughts  of  God,  to  think  of  Him  as  a  silver 
or  golden  image,  but  to  learn  from  our  own 
higher  natures  something  of  what  our  Eter- 
nal Father  must  be. 

These,  then,  are  the  two  inspiring  aspects 
of  the  Biblical  view  of  the  nature  of  man, 
the  lofty  conception  of  man's  origin  and 
destiny  which  it  affords,  and  the  worthy 
conception  of  God. 

"  The  soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting, 
And  cometh  from  afar ; 
Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 


48  MAN 

And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 
From  God,  who  is  our  home." 

With  such  a  nature  there  is  no  satisfaction 
for  man  except  in  God  and  a  godlike  life. 
"Thou  hast  created  us  for  thyself,"  said 
Augustine,  "  and  the  heart  is  restless  till  it 
rests  in  thee  ; "  or  as  Whittier  puts  it : 

"  To  turn  aside  from  thee  is  hell, 
To  walk  with  thee  is  heaven." 

Man,  too,  from  his  own  higher  nature  may 
learn  something  of  the  real  nature  of  God. 
In  endeavoring  to  do  this  he  may  easily  go 
astray,  and  may  merit  the  divine  rebuke 
which  a  psalmist  conveyed  to  Israel :  "  Thou 
thoughtest  that  I  was  altogether  such  a  one 
as  thyself."  Nevertheless,  it  is  this  pathway 
which  leads  man  up  to  the  heart  of  the 
Infinite.  To  this  goal  he  is  guided,  not 
alone  by  the  conviction,  that 

"  Nothing  can  be  good  in  Him 
Which  evil  is  in  me," 

but  by  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  who 
took  man  at  his  best,  as  in  the  sacred  rela- 
tions of  father  and  husband,  and  made  him 
a  parable  or  type  of  God,  the  Heavenly 
Father. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
SIN  AS  TRANSGRESSION. 

"  When  the  commandment  came,  sin  sprang  into  life 
and  I  died."    Rom.  vii,  9. 

"  Sin  hath  broke  the  world's  sweet  peace — unstrung 
Th'  harmonious  chords  to  which  the  angels  sung." 

— Dana. 

SIN  is  the  transgression  of  law ;  it  is  the 
deliberate  abandoning  of  our  ethical  ideals ; 
it  is  the  conscious  violation  of  some  stand- 
ard, either  outward  or  inward,  which  con- 
science recognizes  as  imposing  upon  us  an 
obligatory  ought.  Until  such  an  ideal  im- 
poses the  duties  of  such  an  ought  upon  us, 
no  sin  is  possible.  This  is  what  Paul  means 
when  he  says:  "When  the  commandment 
came  sin  sprang  into  life." 

This  truth  is  in  germ  embodied  in  the 
narrative  given  in  the  third  chapter  of 
Genesis.  That  narrative  was  originally 
shaped  to  explain  to  early  men  many  other 
things  than  the  origin  of  sin, 1  but  it  never- 
theless sets  forth  in  a  form  perpetually 


1  For  the  other    aspects  of  the  story  of  Eden  see  the  writer's 
Sketch  of  Semitic  Origins,  Social  and  Religious,  p.  93  ff. 


49 


50  SIN   AS  TRANSGRESSION 

valid  the  real  beginnings  of  sin.  It  pictures 
the  divine  command  which  the  conscience 
of  man  recognized  ;  it  sets  forth  vividly  the 
temptation  to  present  indulgence,  the  rea- 
sons which  lead  man  to  prefer  immediate 
advantage  to  the  course  which  conscience 
approves,  and  the  dire  consequences  and 
the  disillusionment  which  sin  brings.  In 
this  respect  it  is  a  mirror  of  the  universal 
experience  of  mankind.  Ideals,  which  we 
have  admired  and  praised,  are  abandoned 
in  the  stress  of  temptation.  We  know  the 
fruit  is  forbidden,  but  it  is  pleasant  to  look 
upon  and  promises  to  be  sweet,  so  we  aban- 
don our  standard,  take  the  sinful  course,  the 
promised  joy  turns  to  ashes  in  our  hand, 
and  our  Eden  is  lost. 

One  of  the  psalmists  recognized  that  this 
experience  is  universal.  "  They  are  all 
gone  out  of  the  way  ",  he  sang,  "  there  is 
none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one."  Cen- 
turies later  Paul,  as  he  looked  over  the  Jew- 
ish and  Gentile  world,  could  find  no  better 
language  than  that  of  the  psalmist  in  which 
to  express  the  oppressive  fact,  that  sin  is 
universal. 


SIN   AS  TRANSGRESSION  51 

The  heart  of  every  man  and  woman 
recognizes  the  truth  of  this  Biblical  teach- 
ing. The  imperative  demands  of  our  lofti- 
est ideals  have  laid  upon  us  divine  duties. 
These  we  have  so  often  abandoned,  that  it 
needs  no  labored  proof  to  convince  us  that 
the  first  men  and  women  did  the  same. 
We  have  inherited  from  the  past  weakened 
moral  natures,  but  we  have  so  often  aban- 
doned our  ethical  standards,  that  our  sins 
are  definitely  our  own. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  there  is 
an  irreconcilable  contradiction  between  the 
evolutionary  theory  of  the  origin  of  man, 
now  universally  accepted  by  thinking  men, 
and  the  story  of  man's  fall  as  given  in  Gene- 
sis, but  this  is  a  great  mistake.  The  narra- 
tive of  Genesis,  and  the  traditions  of  a  golden 
age,  which  come  from  many  ancient  peoples, 
picture  to  us  one  side  of  a  shield,  of  which 
the  doctrine  of  evolution  gives  us  the  other. 
If  man  was  developed  from  the  lower  orders 
of  life,  there  must  have  been  a  time  when 
he  possessed  a  good  degree  of  intelligence 
and  an  overflow  of  animal  spirits,  but  lacked 
almost  entirely  anything  that  could  be  called 


52  SIN   AS   TRANSGRESSION 

a  conscience.  At  such  a  period  the  world 
would  seem  to  him  a  paradise.  He  would 
take  as  much  delight  in  life  and  be  as  free 
from  care  as  a  lamb  gambolling  in  the 
springtime.  Soon,  however,  increasing  intel- 
ligence would  give  him  a  conscience ;  it 
would  enable  him  to  put  himself  into  the 
place  of  another  whom  his  acts  might  injure ; 
it  would  enable  him  to  perceive  how  that 
other  would  feel,  and  to  grasp  the  elements 
of  a  moral  standard  of  conduct.  The  mo- 
ment when  conscience  came,  and  its  behests 
were  violated,  as  they  would  be  sure  to  be 
at  first,  the  primitive  paradise  was  gone. 
The  world  which  had  seemed  so  blissful, 
and  so  full  of  glorious  sunshine,  began  to 
be  haunted  with  the  dark  spectres  which 
spring  from  an  uneasy  conscience.  Man 
seemed  to  himself  to  have  fallen  ;  he  could 
tell  the  story  as  he  recollected  it  in  no  other 
terms.  He  told,  too,  his  inner  experiences 
truthfully,  and  we  even  now  find  them  true 
to  our  own  experiences.  We  are  able  to  see 
that  man's  fall  was  in  the  end  a  step  in 
advance,  because  it  became  possible  only  in 
consequence  of  powers  which  opened  to  him 


SIN   AS   TRANSGRESSION  53 

the  possibilities  of  the  highest  life,  but  it 
was  nevertheless  a  real  fall  from  innocence 
and  from  happiness. 

In  this  broad  sense  the  old  Hebrew  nar- 
rative is  true  as  history,  while  it  is  also  true 
because  it  reproduces  in  parable  a  part  of 
the  inner  history  of  every  man.  Whenever 
we  deliberately  do  what  we  know  to  be 
beneath  the  highest  standards  which  our 
hearts  approve,  we  live  over  again  the  story 
of  Eden,  and  sadly  go  forth  from  peace  and 
from  God. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SIN  AS  SEPARATION  FROM  GOD. 

"Your  iniquities  have  separated  between  you  and 
your  God."  Isaiah  lix,  2. 

"  O,  may  no  earth-born  cloud  arise 

To  hide  Thee  from  Thy  servant's  eyes." 

—Keble. 

THE  conception  of  sin,  expressed  in  the 
story  of  the  expulsion  of  Adam  and  Eve 
from  Eden,  involves  the  idea  that  it  sepa- 
rates the  one  who  commits  it  from  God. 
This  view  is  confirmed  by  the  universal 
experience  of  mankind.  The  face  of  God, 
which  seems  so  bright  to  the  pure  in  heart, 
is  enveloped  in  darkness  for  him  who  has 
indulged  in  sin;  however  near  God  may 
seem  to  the  righteous,  the  sinner  thinks  of 
His  presence  only  to  fear  it. 

It  is  probable  that  the  early  Semitic  an- 
cestors of  the  Hebrews  had  no  conception 
of  sin  that  we  would  consider  worthy  of  the 
name,  and  yet  they  possessed  physical 
notions  of  union  with  God  and  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  separation  from  Him  which  were 
r6al  types  of  the  spiritual  phenomena  of  sin 

54 


SIN   AS   SEPARATION   FROM   GOD  55 

and  atonement.  It  will  make  the  spiritual 
clearer,  if  we  think  for  a  little  of  their 
physical  antecedents. 

Kinship  was  regarded  as  a  physical  bond  ; 
it  had  its  basis,  of  course,  in  a  common 
birth,  but  was  renewed  and  kept  alive  by 
partaking  of  common  food.  Eating  of  the 
same  material  was  thought  to  make  really 
kindred  for  a  time  bodies  which  had  origin- 
ally no  real  kinship.  This  latter  idea  lies 
at  the  basis  of  the  covenant  formed  by  eating 
salt,  which  is  still  potent  in  the  East,  even 
at  the  present  time.  Such  covenants  of 
kinship  were  binding,  however,  only  while 
the  physical  food,  of  which  the  contracting 
parties  had  partaken,  was  actually  in  their 
bodies.  It  would  soon  wear  away,  if  not 
renewed,  and  even  real  kinship  would  be- 
come somewhat  attenuated,  if  not  renewed 
frequently  in  the  common  meal. 

At  this  period  of  civilization  the  god  was 
thought  to  be  a  member  of  the  tribe,  related 
to  his  worshippers  by  physical  bonds  of 
kinship.  It  was  thus  that  the  Semitic 
ancestors  of  the  Hebrews  pictured  to  them- 
selves the  truth  that  man  is  a  partaker  of 


56  SIN    AS  SEPARATION    FROM    GOD 

the  divine  nature.  In  the  stress  of  life  they 
thought  that  this  physical  bond  might  be 
worn  away  and  weakened  like  the  similar 
bonds  which  bound  them  to  their  brethren. 
Their  whole  conception  of  life  had  regard 
exclusively  to  the  physical ;  they  could, 
therefore,  have  little  conception  of  the  in- 
ward or  spiritual  nature  of  sin.  Sin,  as 
they  conceive  it,  was  a  weakening  of  the  bond 
of  physical  kinship,  which  bound  them  to 
their  god.  It  was,  nevertheless,  truly  con- 
ceived as  separation  from  him,  and  was 
thus  a  real  type  of  later  and  better  con- 
ceptions. 

Man,  as  we  saw  above,  is  a  child  of  God  ; 
there  has  been  given  to  him  a  spark  of  the 
divine  nature.  However  germinal  and  un- 
developed this  may  be,  it  is  nevertheless 
present  in  the  breast  of  every  human  being. 
It  may  be  distorted  and  defaced  almost 
beyond  recognition,  but  it  is  still  there  ;  the 
prodigal  may  have  lived  long  in  degrada- 
tion, and  all  the  outward  marks  of  his  son- 
ship  may  be  gone,  but  until  the  conscience 
is  utterly  seared  and  the  soul  made  wholly 
insensible  to  higher  impulses,  this  divine 


SIN   AS   SEPARATION   FROM  GOD  57 

image  remains,  even  though  a  wreck,  and 
is  the  basis  of  the  hope  of  the  man's  restora- 
tion and  redemption. 

Sin,  which,  in  one  aspect,  is  a  violation 
of  our  best  standards  of  life,  is,  in  another 
aspect,  doing  violence  to  our  divine  descent. 
It  strikes  a  blow  at  the  divine  image  within 
us  ;  it  attenuates  our  kinship  to  our  Father; 
it  interrupts  our  communion  with  Him  ;  it 
is  separation  from  Him.  Could  man  live 
entirely  as  a  child  of  God,  he  would  not 
sin ;  he  would  be  true  to  his  higher  nature. 
But  the  clamorous  voices  of  appetite  lead 
him  into  the  devious  paths  of  selfishness 
and  wrong,  where  with  shrunken  heart, 
darkened  soul,  and  despairing  spirit  he 
learns  that  he  is  separated  from  God,  from 
peace,  and  from  happiness,  and  there  rises 
in  his  heart  a  longing  for  forgiveness,  for 
restoration  to  his  Father,  and  for  a  better 
life.1 


1For  fuller  statements  of  the  facts  given  in  this  chapter,  see  W. 
Robertson  Smith's  Religion  of  the  Semites,  Lecture  II,  and  H. 
Clay  Trumbull's  Sail  Covenant. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   SACRIFICIAL    ELEMENT    IN 
ATONEMENT. 

"  As  them,  Father,  art  in  union  with  me  and  I  with 
thee,  so  that  they  also  may  be  in  union  with  us." 
John  xvii,  21. 

"  The  healing  of  His  seamless  dress 

Is  by  our  beds  of  pain  ; 
We  touch  Him  in  life's  throng  and  press, 
And  we  are  whole  again." 

—  Whittier. 

IN  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  John  ex- 
pression is  given  to  the  highest  spiritual 
conception  of  the  purpose  of  Christ's  wt>rk. 
It  is  there  declared  to  be  the  bringing  of 
men  into  a  union  with  Himself  such  as  He 
enjoys  with  God,  His  Father.  This  is  the 
spiritual  fruitage,  the  germ  of  which  we  find 
in  primitive  Semitic  and  early  Hebrew  con- 
ceptions of  atonement. 

As  we  have  seen  the  early  Semite  thought 
that  the  bond  of  kinship,  which  bound 
him  to  his  God,  might  become  attenuated. 
When  it  was  thus  weakened  he  natur- 
ally thought  that  the  success  of  his  life 

58 


SACRIFICIAL   ELEMENT   IN   ATONEMENT   59 

depended  upon  its  renewal.  The  way  in 
which  he  conceived  its  renewal  to  be  ef- 
fected has  a  direct  bearing  on  our  subject. 
A  victim,  kindred  both  to  his  god  and  to 
himself,  was  sacrificed,  and  was  then  con- 
sumed in  a  meal,  of  which  both  he  and  his 
god,  according  to  his  conception,  partook. 
That  victim,  supplying  to  both  the  god  and 
his  worshipper  a  common  life  by  means  of 
material  drawn  from  their  common  source, 
bound  god  and  man  together  in  a  new 
unity.1 

This  conception  of  the  meaning  of  sacri- 
fice was  entertained  by  the  Hebrews  in  the 
early  days  of  their  history,  and  underlay  the 
sacrificial  ritual  of  the  Jewish  church  of 
later  days.  Thus  the  sacrifices  at  Shiloh, 
which  were  attended  by  the  parents  of 
Samuel,8  were  festival  meals;  as  was  also  that 
which  Saul  attended  at  Zuph  with  Samuel.3 
Since  such  sacrifices  were  thought  to  bind 
the  worshippers  together  in  a  kindred  life 
they  were  used  to  seal  solemn  covenants. 
Thus  in  the  oldest  account  that  we  have 


1  For  details  and  proof  see  W.  Robertson  Smith's  Religion  of  the 
Semites,  Lectures  vi-xi.     "  1  Sam.  i.     3 1  Sam.  ix,  13  and  22-24. 


60   SACRIFICIAL   ELEMENT   IN   ATONEMENT 

of  the  covenant,  which  Jehovah  made  with 
Jlis  people  at  Sinai,  (Ex.  xxiv,  1,  2,  and 
9-11),  the  covenant  is  sealed  by  a  sacrifice, 
which  is  simply  a  meal  eaten  by  Moses 
and  the  elders  of  Israel  with  Jehovah.  By 
this  time  it  was  realized  that  Jehovah  was 
of  too  spiritual  a  nature  to  eat  viands  like 
a  man,  but  He  was  thought  to  partake  of 
the  sacrifice  in  a  more  refined  way  by 
smelling  its  odor.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
we  read  so  often  that  "  Jehovah  smelled  the 
sweet  savor  of  the  sacrifice." 

As  time  passed  on  the  thought  underly- 
ing this  ritual  was  expressed  in  a  different 
way.  The  altar  was  taken  as  Jehovah's 
representative,  and  the  blood  of  the  victim 
was  sprinkled  both  upon  it  and  upon  the 
people.  The  blood  was  to  the  Hebrews  the 
life  of  the  victim,  and  thus  it  was  thought 
that  God  and  His  people  were  bound  to- 
gether in  a  common  life.  In  the  account  of 
the  covenant  at  Sinai,  which  is  second  in 
point  of  date,  (Ex.  xxiv,  3-8),  it  is  thus  that 
the  covenant  is  said  to  have  been  sealed. 
Similar  ritual  often  appears  in  other  places 
with  a  similar  meaning.  For  example,  the 


SACKIFICIAL   ELEMENT   IN   ATONEMENT    61 

real  sacrifice  on  the  day  of  atonement  *  was 
of  this  character,  its  blood  was  sprinkled  on 
the  altar  to  bind  the  people  to  Jehovah. 
The  goat,  which  was  sent  into  the  wilder- 
ness for  the  demon  Azazel,  had  nothing  to  do 
with  this  ;  that  sacrifice  belongs  to  a  more 
superstitious  stratum  of  thought,  and  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in 
using  this  ritual  to  illustrate  the  work  of 
Christ,  ignores  the  portion  of  it,  in  which 
Azazel  figures,  confining  himself  to  the  por- 
tion which  symbolizes  the  union  of  the  wor- 
shipper with  God. 8 

This  conception  of  atonement  is  the  com- 
plement of  that  conception  of  sin,  which 
pictures  sin  as  separation  from  God,  for  it 
heals  the  breach  which  sin  had  caused  by 
binding  God  and  man  together  again  in  a 
united  life.  That  this  was  Christ's  concep- 
tion of  His  work,  appears  not  only  from  the 
Gospel  of  John,  but  from  the  synoptic  nar- 
ratives as  well.  When  at  the  last  supper 
He  said :  "  This  is  my  blood  of  the  new 
covenant/'3  He  suggested  that  He  was  doing 


1  Lev.  xyi.        aHeb.  x,  1  ff.        3  Matt,  xxvi,  28  ;  Mark  xiv,  24  ; 
Lu.  xxii,  20. 


62   SACRIFICIAL   ELEMENT   IN   ATONEMENT 

a  work  similar  to  that  which  the  sacrifices 
at  the  solemnization  of  the  first  covenant 
performed.  As  they  bound  God  and  man 
together  in  a  renewed  life,  so  He  would  bind 
His  disciples  to  God  in  a  new  and  living 
bond. 

This,  then,  is  the  substance  of  the  Gospel 
message ;  and  it  was  anticipated  in  a  rude 
type  or  germ  in  early  Semitic  times.  Man 
is  by  nature  in  some  degree  akin  to  God, 
but  he  does  not  live  the  highest  life  ;  he  is 
often  false  to  his  better  nature ;  he  sins,  and 
his  sins  separate  him  from  God ;  they 
weaken  the  life  bond,  which  united  him  in 
some  degree  to  his  maker ;  but  Christ  the 
Son  of  God  has  come  into  human  life  to 
unite  man  again  with  God ;  He  comes  in 
Spirit  still  into  every  heart  which  will  wel- 
come Him  ;  He  renews  the  higher  nature, 
kindles  heavenly  ideals,  strengthens  the  will 
to  achieve  the  best,  introduces  into  com- 
munion with  the  Father,  enables  one  to  live 
in  accordance  with  his  better  nature,  and  the 
man  is  saved  by  union  with  God. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  FUNCTION  OF  SUFFERING   IN 
ATONEMENTS 

"By  his  knowledge  shall  my  righteous  servant 
make  many  righteous,  and  he  shall  bear  their  iniqui- 
ties." Isa.  liii,  11. 

"  For  humanity  sweeps  onward ;  where   to-day  the 

martyr  stands, 
On  the  morrow  crouches  Judas  with  the  silver  in  his 

hands ; 
Far  in  front  the  cross  stands  ready  and  the  crackling 

fagots  burn, 
While  the  hooting  mob   of  yesterday  in  silent  awe 

return 
To  glean  up  the  scattered  ashes  into  History's  golden 

urn." 

— Lowell. 

KNOWLEDGE  in  this  world  involves  pain. 
The  power  to  know  is  included  in  the 
power  to  suffer.  Sensation  through  which 
knowledge  comes  conveys  both  painful  and 
pleasurable  impressions.  From  a  compari- 
son of  these,  intelligence  comes.  The  simpl- 
est things  we  know  have  come  to  us  through 
our  own  pain  or  that  of  our  predecessors. 


1A   large  part  of  this  chapter  was  published  in  the  American 
Friend  in  1898. 

63 


64  THE   FUNCTION   OF   SUFFERING 

Pain  has  been  the  great  motive  power  by 
which  the  race  has  advanced.  The  animal 
and  the  savage  bask  in  the  sunshine,  idle 
and  thoughtless,  till  the  sun  moves  on  and 
cold  compels  them  to  seek  protection. 
Hunger  is  the  motive  power  of  industry. 
Civilization  has  directly  sprung  from  pain, 
and  pain  is  the  door  through  which  those 
deeper  problems  of  life  and  its  meaning 
enter, — problems  which  compel  the  soul  to 
cast  itself  upon  God. 

It  is,  then,  neither  an  accident  nor  a  false 
anatysis  of  life  which  leads  the  prophet  in 
this  great  poem  on  the  Sufferer  to  couple 
knowledge  with  suffering ;  for  a  moment's 
reflection  makes  it  clear  that  with  knowl- 
edge the  power  to  suffer  is  increased.  The 
sensitive  ear  of  the  musician,  taught  to  de- 
tect harmonies  which  to  our  duller  sense  are 
obscure,  is  harassed  by  a  thousand  discords 
which  are  powerless  to  give  us  pain.  The 
eye  of  the  trained  artist,  skilled  to  detect 
beauties  which  we  pass  unnoticed,  is  also 
pained  by  uglinesses  of  which  we  remain 
ignorant.  The  sensitive  soul,  capable  of 
catching  some  glimpse  of  immortal  joys, 


THE    FUNCTION   OF   SUFFERING  65 

may  be  tortured  with  visions  of  exquisite  woe 
which  the  gross  have  no  power  to  appreciate. 

But  suffering,  though  so  beneficent,  is 
universally  misunderstood.  The  savage 
thinks  it  the  penalty  of  an  angry  divinity, 
and  abandons  the  sick  and  suffering  because 
his  god  is  offended  with  them.  Our  very 
word  pain  comes  from  this  conception  of 
penalty.  Many  a  thoughtful  Christian  mis- 
understands it  almost  as  much  as  the 
savage.  The  prophet  confesses  that  he  and 
his  contemporaries  misunderstood  it.  As 
they  looked  upon  the  ideal  Servant — 
whether  he  was  to  them  an  individual  or 
the  righteous  kernel  of  the  nation  we  do  not 
know — they  thought  God  was  punishing 
him.  "  We  did  esteem  him  stricken, 
smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted."  But  as  the 
prophet  gazed  there  dawned  upon  his  soul 
the  great  truth  that  suffering  is  redemptive  : 
"He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions, 
He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities ;  the  chas- 
tisement of  our  peace  was  upon  Him,  and 
with  His  stripes  we  are  healed," 

The  redemptive  power  of  suffering  is  one 
of  the  marvels  of  life.  A.  noble  soul  catches 


6C  THE    FUNCTION   OF   SUFFERING 

some  gleam  of  truth  not  before  known — 
it  may  be  only  a  discovery  in  mechanics, 
but  a  discovery  which  will  greatly  aid  the 
processes  of  human  economy.  He  declares 
his  knowledge,  but  the  world  doubts ;  he 
insists  on  his  message,  but  men  scoff;  he 
becomes  to  them  a  fanatic,  a  crank,  or  an 
insane  enthusiast.  The  man  passes  his  life 
in  bearing  the  pains  of  misunderstanding 
and  poverty,  and  it  is  often  not  till  he  is 
gone  that  men  learn  to  appreciate  and 
utilize  his  knowledge.  Because  of  the  dull- 
ness of  humanity  the  inventor  must,  as  a 
rule — happily  our  age  is  reversing  this — 
suffer  long  to  teach  the  world  his  truth  and 
raise  humanity  even  a  little.  It  is  thus 
that  our  common  comforts  and  appliances 
have  been  purchased.  Purple  with  the  life- 
blood  of  some  of  earth's  best  spirits  is  the 
pathway  over  which  our  daily  conveniences 
have  come  to  us. 

In  the  spiritual  and  moral  realm  this  is 
pre-eminently  true.  The  reformer  and  pro- 
phet come  with  their  vision  of  a  higher  life, 
but  their  message  is  received  with  scorn  by 
those  who  are  wedded  to  the  flesh-pots  or 


THE    FUNCTION    OP    SUFFERING  67 

shibboleths  of  the  present  order.  Truth  is 
trampled  upon  ;  its  messenger  bleeds ;  his 
life  is  passed  in  a  living  martyrdom  till  at 
last  the  message  burned  into  men's  hearts 
by  his  patient  suffering  is  welcomed,  and  a 
race  steps  forward  to  a  higher  plane  of  life. 

All  this  reaches  its  highest  exemplifica- 
tion in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  does  not 
detract  from  the  divine  character  of  His 
suffering  that  it  conforms  to  this  universal 
type  ;  that  suffering  is  God's  own  seal  upon 
the  law  of  life's  progress  which  He  himself 
established. 

We  sometimes  think  of  the  suffering  of 
Christ  as  though  it  were  the  suffering  of 
the  crucifixion  only.  That  was,  indeed,  the 
climax,  but  His  whole  life  was  a  life  of  pain. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise  with  one  who 
brought  to  man  such  new  and  momentous 
knowledge  as  He  did  ?  Men  had  here  and 
there  ventured  to  guess  that  God  was 
a  Father,  but  the  practical  knowledge  of 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  as  Christ  taught 
it  was  quite  new.  How  could  one  who 
taught  that  God  is  Spirit  fail  to  win  the 
hate  of  those  who  desired  to  confine  God  to 


68  THE   FUNCTION    OF    SUFFERING 

their  little  sanctuary  that  they  might  have 
a  monopoly  of  Him?  When  He  declared 
that  God  is  light  must  He  not  offend  those 
whose  hearts  were  dark  with  ecclesiastical 
deceit?  When  He  said  that  God  is  Love, 
He  must  range  against  himself  those  who 
were  full  of  hatred,  and  wished  to  serve  a 
God  who  would  justify  their  hate.  But  espe- 
cially when  He  told  men  who  were  looking 
fora  Messianic  kingdom,  of  which  Jerusa- 
lem should  be  the  capital,  and  to  which  the 
treasures  of  the  world  should  flow —  a  king- 
dom which  should  satisfy  their  greed,  their 
love  of  power  and  revenge,  that  the  king- 
dom of  God  comes  not  with  observation, 
that  it  is  within,  that  its  magnates  are  not 
rulers,  but  servants,  is  it  any  wonder  that 
His  heart  was  pierced  with  the  hate  of  these 
men  ?  Conscious  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
as  man  had  never  been,  His  life  revolved 
about  a  centre  unknown  to  others.  What 
suffering  the  hateful  discords  of  earth  must 
have  caused  that  ear  attuned  to  the  har- 
mony of  heaven  !  He  was  never  under- 
stood. His  brethren  thought  Him  mad. 
The  crowds  which  for  a  time  followed  for 


THE   FUNCTION   OF   SUFFERING  69 

loaves  and  fishes  forsook  Him  when  He 
refused  to  proclaim  Himself  a  king.  Rabbis, 
who  fattened  on  the  patronage  of  a  system 
grounded  in  a  this-worldly  theology,  soon 
perceived  that  there  must  be  eternal  warfare 
between  their  system  and  His,  and  ulti- 
mately secured  His  condemnation.  The 
three  disciples  who  seem  to  have  been  most 
able  and  most  desirous  of  understanding 
Him,  failed  Him  in  Gethsemane  and  went 
to  sleep  when  He  most  longed  for  sympathy. 
It  was  then,  when  He  faced  this  world  of 
misunderstanding,  hatred  and  incompetence, 
each  aspect  of  which  seemed  to  render  His 
task  hopeless  and  to  fling  back  His  love 
upon  itself,  that  He  "  began  to  be  greatly 
amazed  and  sore  troubled."  Surely  His 
suffering  was  not  confined  to  the  cross  ! 
Such  suffering  as  His  was  only  possible  in 
One  who  possessed  such  knowledge,  and  it 
was  life-long,  though  it  culminated  in  Cal- 
vary. 

But  how  often  has  this  suffering  been 
misunderstood  !  We  have  "  esteemed  Him 
smitten  of  God  " — have  thought  the  Father 
was  imposing  penalty  on  Him,  while  "  He 


70  THE   FUNCTION    OF   SUFFERING 

was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,"  and 
the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon 
Jlim."  The  stripes  came  from  us,  not 
God,  but  by  them  we  were  healed.  Hearts 
unmoved  by  all  else  have  responded  to  the 
suffering  of  Jesus.  It  has  convinced  men 
of  the  love  of  God,  and  drawn  them  unto 
Him.  "By  His  knowledge  He  has  made 
many  righteous ;  and  borne  their  iniqui- 
ties." 

The  sufferings  of  Christ  have  been  as  a 
window  through  which  men  could  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  long-suffering  love  of  God. 
In  God  is  the  perfect  and  unlimited  knowl- 
edge; in  Him,  the  spotless  purity  ;  in  Him, 
the  blending  of  all  high  qualities  and  deli- 
cate powers.  His  must  the  infinite  suffer- 
ing be,  in  view  of  the  sin,  the  insensibility 
and  the  beastliness  of  man.  The  power  of 
that  suffering  love  over  the  hearts  of  men, 
as  it  is  revealed  in  the  suffering  Son,  is  the 
heavenly  power  which  melts  hard  hearts, 
and  brings  the  prodigal  home. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HEART. 

"  Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  a  Temple  of  God."  1 
Cor.  iii,  16. 

"  Invisible  and  silent  stands 
The  temple  never  made  with  hands, 
Unheard  the  voices  still  and  small 
Of  its  unseen  confessional." 

— Whittier. 

IN  ancient  times  the  gods  were  not  thought 
to  be  everywhere,  but  were  localized.  Cer- 
tain spots,  where  vegetation  grew  luxuri- 
antly or  some  other  circumstance  persuaded 
men  that  the  divine  was  especially  mani- 
fested, were  believed  to  be  the  dwelling 
places  of  gods.  In  other  places  man  could 
do  much  as  he  pleased,  but  when  he  ap- 
proached the  temple  of  God  he  must  do  as 
God  pleased.  If  it  were  necessary  to  ap- 
proach an  earthly  potentate  with  ceremony, 
much  more  was  it  necessary  to  approach 
with  proper  form  the  dwelling  place  of  God. 
His  home  was  believed  to  be  surcharged 
with  his  presence  as  a  kind  of  divine  elec- 
tricity. If  any  were  so  bold  as  to  approach 

71 


y« 

72     THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HEART 

this  sanctuary  in  a  way  displeasing  to  its 
divine  inhabitant,  this  supernatural  power 
might  be  discharged  as  it  was  in  the  case  of 
Uzzah,  (2  Sam.  vi),  and  the  man  might  be 
instantly  destroyed  ;  but  if  he  came  in  the 
right  way,  the  inexhaustible  strength  of  the 
indwelling  deity  was  lavished  upon  his 
prosperity. 

It  is  these  ideas,  universal  in  the  time  of 
Paul,  that  he  applies  mystically  and  with 
such  moral  effect  in  the  Corinthian  Epistles. 
He  employs  for  spiritual  edification  the  old 
idea  of  the  taboo  as  it  had  been  raised  to  its 
highest  power  by  the  Jew.  The  principle 
underlying  it  is,  when  translated  into 
terms  of  the  spirit,  true.  God  is  Spirit; 
man  is  spirit.  The  one  is  the  dwelling 
place  of  the  other.  If  "  in  Him  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being,"  so  He  would 
live  in  us;  He  has  designed  the  spirit  of 
man  for  His  temple.  That  spirit  is  intim- 
ately associated  with,  or  is  a  part  of,  a  mind  ; 
it  dwells  in  a  physical  body.  It  cannot  be 
pure  if  the  mind  delights  in  the  impure, 
or  if  the  body  makes  its  animal  passions  the 
master  of  the  whole.  If  the  Spirit  of  God 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HEART      73 

cannot  keep  the  human  spirit  so  pure  that 
it  has  power  to  keep  the  mind  on  themes 
which  are  elevated — if  the  mind  has  not 
power  to  make  the  body  its  servant  rather 
than  its  master,  then  the  temple  of  God  is 
defiled, — destroyed ;  then  the  man  too  is 
defiled, — destroyed.  No  law  in  all  the  uni- 
verse is  more  sure  or  inexorable  than  this. 
The  drunkard  and  the  debauchee  afford  its 
worst  examples,  but  wherever  stunted  lives 
and  dwarfed  consciences  are  to  be  seen, 
there  we  may  be  sure  the  temple  of  God  has 
been  devoted  to  profane  uses.  The  destruc- 
tion is  not  completed,  but  it  is  going  on. 

On  the  other  hand  real  prosperity  goes 
with  purity.  Of  such  Paul  declares  God's 
word  to  be :  "I  will  dwell  in  them  and 
walk  in  them,  and  I  will  be  their  God  and 
they  shall  be  my  people."  It  was  thus  that 
Paul  translated  the  old  unreasoning  and 
half-superstitious  taboos  of  the  primitive 
sanctuaries  into  spiritual  values.  The  heart 
a  temple  for  God  !  The  life  interpenetrated 
by  His  love,  moulded  by  His  spirit !  This 
is  the  supreme  privilege  of  life  !  No  wonder 


74      THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HEART 

that  he  who  casts  it  away  is  by  that  very 
fact  dwarfed,  defiled,  undone,  destroyed  ! 

Inspiring  as  these  suggestions  are  there 
are  others  which  come  to  us  of  which  Paul 
did  not  dream,  because  he  did  not  know  the 
evolution  of  the  temple  as  it  is  known  to- 
day. Men  thought  at  first  that  their  deity 
dwelt  in  some  natural  object,  a  tree,  a  spring, 
a  crag,  or  something  of  that  kind.  Such 
had  been  the  belief  of  the  early  Hebrews 
and  their  ancestors.  Then  they  conceived 
the  idea  that  God  could  be  persuaded  to 
reside  in  a  stone  of  their  own  selection ; 
thus  Jacob  set  up  a  stone  at  Bethel  and 
called  it  God's  house.  These  monoliths,  or 
heaps  of  stones  as  they  sometimes  were, 
served  at  first  as  temple,  idol  and  altar  all 
in  one.  To  come  into  contact  with  them  was 
to  come  into  contact  with  the  god  who 
dwelt  within.  Sacrifices  were  offered  on 
them,  blood  poured  out  over  them,  and 
other  gifts  cast  on  them.  In  course  of  time 
they  were  carved  into  various  idol  forms  or 
houses  built  over  them.  The  houses,  rude 
at  first,  in  course  of  time  gave  place  to 
temples  like  those  of  Solomon  and  Herod, 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HEART      75 

elaborately  adorned  with  gold  and  precious 
stones,  into  which  God,  though  inhabiting 
the  heaven  of  heavens,  which  could  not 
contain  Him,  nevertheless  deigned  to  come. 
Is  not  the  development  of  the  temple 
from  the  uncarved  and  rude  pillar  up  to 
the  magnificent  building,  radiant  with  all 
that  is  precious,  a  parable,  too,  for  our 
encouragement?  The  heart  that  has  wel- 
comed its  heavenly  Master  is  a  temple,  but 
how  poor  a  temple  it  knows  itself  to  be  !  It 
is  like  the  rude  pillar  naked  to  the  sky.  It 
lacks  the  sheltering  power  of  the  character 
which  is  to  be,  it  lacks  the  beautifying 
power  of  the  Christian  graces  which  are  yet 
to  grow.  The  years  of  Christian  experi- 
ence, however,  produce  their  effect.  The 
divine  Indweller  of  his  temple  transforms 
the  rude,  stony  heart  into  His  own  image  ; 
He  adorns  it  with  graces  like  unto  His  own, 
graces  which  are  the  fruits  of  His  own  spirit, 
till,  by-and-by,  it  is  not  only  a  temple  in 
some  sense  fit  for  its  heavenly  Inhabitant, 
but  like  the  ancient  temple  it  has  made  its 
environment  holy,  and  sanctified  and  puri- 
fied as  much  of  life  as  it  can  influence.  It 


76  THE  TEMPLE   OF   THE   HEART 

is  only  the  Christian  who  knows  the  power 
of  this  mystic  experience  who  can  realize  the 
poet's  dream : — 

"  Build  thee  more  stately  mansions,  0  my  soul, 
As  the  swift  season's  roll ! 
Leave  thy  low- vaulted  past ! 
Let  each  new  temple,  nobler  than  the  last, 
Shut  thee  from  heaven  with  a  dome  more  vast, 

Till  thou  at  length  art  free, 
Leaving  thine  outgrown  shell  by  life's  unresting 
sea !  " 

Another  parable,  too,  suggests  itself  as 
one  broods  over  Paul's  mystic  figure.  The 
temples  of  ancient  times  had  no  windows. 
They  were  little  chambers  for  the  deity,  not 
churches  for  the  accommodation  of  the  wor- 
shippers. The  deity  within  dwelt  therefore 
in  thick  darkness.  In  time  this  came  to  be 
symbolic  of  the  mystery  which  enshrouded 
God  and  all  His  ways.  It  was  thus  that  the 
thick  darkness  ot  Solomon's  temple,  (1  Kgs. 
viii,  12 ;  2  Chr.  vi,  1),  is  to  be  understood. 
In  the  New  Testament  God  no  longer 
is  thought  to  dwell  in  darkness,  but  in 
the  light  which  no  man  can  approach 
unto,  (1  Tim.  vi,  11).  God  is  as  before 
enveloped  in  mystery,  but  Christ  has  now 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HEART      77 

come  and  the  mystery  is  no  longer  one 
of  darkness  and  gloom,  but  a  mystery  of 
light  and  of  hope,  Is  not  this,  too,  a  parable 
of  Christian  experience  ?  The  world  with 
all  its  wondrous  order,  life  with  all  its  pain, 
bereavement,  disappointment,  and  suffering 
are  always  a  mystery,  but,  whereas  at  the 
first,  the  Heart  of  the  mystery  is  enveloped 
in  the  gloom  of  hopelessness  and  the  fear 
that  God  may  be  unjust  and  unlovely,  when 
the  soul  has  welcomed  its  heavenly  Guest 
and  has  become  accustomed  to  His  presence, 
the  mystery  remains,  but  it  is  a  mystery  of 
light,  hope  and  love,  the  deep  things  of 
which  "  eye  hath  not  seen  or  ear  heard." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PRIESTHOOD. 

"  Ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests."  Ex. 
xix,  6.  «'  A  royal  priesthood,  a  people  for  God's 
own  possession."  1  Pet.  ii,  9. 

"  Not  on  one  favored  forehead  fell 
Of  old  the  tire-tongued  miracle, 
But  flamed  o'er  all  the  thronging  host 
The  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

—  Whittier. 

IN  early  Semitic  tribal  life  no  domestic 
animals  were  killed  except  in  sacrifice,  and 
every  man  was  his  own  priest.  In  other 
words,  every  occasion  when  meat  was  eaten 
had  a  sacrificial  significance,  and  every  man 
could  prepare  his  own  meat.  The  memory 
of  this  primitive  custom  is  preserved  in  the 
ritual  of  the  Hebrew  Passover,  the  lamb  for 
which  was  slain,  not  by  a  priest,  but  by  the 
head  of  each  family.  The  introduction  of 
the  Levitical  priesthood  was  a  later  occur- 
rence, and  in  the  lapse  of  time  that  priest- 
hood so  transformed  the  simple  life  of  early 
times,  that  almost  all  priestly  functions 
were  denied  to  the  ordinary  man.  The 

78 


PRIESTHOOD  79 

primitive  ideal,  nevertheless,  was  cherished 
in  the  heart  of  the  writer  of  Exodus  xix,  6, 
who  looked  for  a  time  when  all  God's 
people  should  be  priests  as  they  were  of  old. 
When  the  Old  Testament  was  translated  into 
Greek,  the  translators  could  not  understand 
this  primitive  ideal.  They  were  thinking 
of  legendary  families,  like  that  of  Cinyras 
in  Cyprus,  who  combined  the  functions  of 
both  king  and  priest,  and  they  accordingly 
translated  "a  kingdom  of  priests"  by  the 
words,  "  a  royal  priesthood."  As  Peter 
quoted  from  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament,  his  Epistle  is  made  to  favor  that 
idea. 

Suggestive  as  the  thought  of  a  royal 
priesthood  is,  the  primitive  Christian  ideal 
was  a  revival  in  a  spiritual  form  of  the  ideal 
of  early  times,  when  every  man  was  his 
own  priest.  The  Master  instituted  no  priest- 
hood ;  He  held  personal  relations  with  every 
disciple.  He  did  not  institute  two  stand- 
ards of  holiness,  one  for  the  priesthood  and 
one  for  the  laity,  but  placed  all  on  an 
equality  :  "  One  is  your  Master  and  all  ye 


80  PRIESTHOOD 

are  brethren."  As  Lightfoot  declared  i1 
"  This  is  the  Christian  ideal ;  a  holy  season 
extending  the  whole  year  round — a  temple 
confined  only  by  the  limits  of  the  habitable 
world — a  priesthood  coextensive  with  the 
human  race;" 

Such  is  the  infirmity  of  human  nature 
that  this  ideal  was  not  long  maintained  in 
organized  Christianity.  The  history  of 
Hebrew  religion  repeated  itself;  a  priest- 
hood intervened  so  that  the  primitive  ideal 
was  almost,  if  not  quite  forgotten.  During 
the  Reformation  period  various  attempts 
were  made  to  restore  to  each  believer  his 
primitive  privileges.  The  most  thorough 
and  successful  of  these  was  that  of  George 
Fox,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of 
the  "  Society  of  Friends." 

We  are  not,  however,  now  concerned  with 
the  perplexing  problems  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  but  with  the  primitive  Christian 
conception  of  priesthood,  of  which  the 
early  Semitic  conception  was  a  type.  The 
meaning  of  that  ideal  is  that  no  one  can 


*The   Christian  Ministry,  N.  Y.,  1883,  p.  10,  alio  his  Phillip- 
f.tans,  Macmillan,  1890,  p.  183,  ff. 


PRIESTHOOD  81 

•* 

come  between  a  soul  and  its  Savior  and  God. 
Each  one  must  tread  the  sacred  places  of 
life's  highest  experiences  for  himself,  if  they 
are  to  have  any  meaning  for  him  ;  each 
must  intercede  for  himself,  must  partake 
personally  of  the  life  which  unites  man  to 
God,  and  must  receive  for  himself  the  power 
to  rise  to  life's  higher  plane.  The  secrets 
of  righteousness  cannot  be  learned  vicari- 
ously ;  it  is  the  duty  and  the  privilege  of 
each  member  of  our  race  to  tread  the  narrow 
pathway,  which  will  lead  him  to  the  heart 
of  God,  and  make  him  in  the  temple  of  his 
own  heart  a  priest  to  God.  When  each 
man  does  this,  then  the  Church  of  Christ 
will  become  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  the 
Master's  ideal  will  be  realized. 

The  duties  of  this  Christian  priesthood 
extend  also  beyond  the  bounds  of  one's  own 
life.  There  are  others  who  stand  nearer  to 
God  than  we  do,  and  it  is  often  a  comfort  to 
have  them  intercede  for  us.  The  privileges 
of  intercession  for  those  who  are  weaker  be- 
long to  all  Christians  ;  the  duty  of  affording 
to  those  who  have  beheld  less  of  the  heavenly 
vision  an  inspiring  example  rests  also  upon 


82  PRIESTHOOD 

• 

all.  Through  lives  of  purity,  hearts  abound- 
ing in  sympathy,  and  words  touched  by  the 
inspiration  of  the  diviner  life,  we  may  help 
to  bring  others  to  appreciate  their  privileges, 
and  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  their  priesthood 
with  God. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  INVENTIONS  OF  THE  SONS 
OF  CAIN. 

"  Adah  and  Zillah,  hear  my  voice  ; 

Ye  wives  of  Lamech  hearken  unto  my  speech  : 

For  I  have  slain  a  man  for  wounding  me, 

And  a  young  man  for  bruising  me  : 

If  Cain  shall  be  avenged  seven-fold, 

Truly  Lamech  seventy  and  seven-fold." 

—Genesis  iv,  23,  24. 

THIS  bit  of  poetry  from  a  dark  and  re- 
vengeful past  now  forms  a  part  of  the  story 
of  Cain's  sons,  as  that  story  is  told  in 
Genesis.  The  narrative  belongs  to  the  old- 
est stratum  of  Pentateuchal  writings.  Its 
author  held  a  very  definite  point  of  view 
with  reference  to  the  culture  of  civilized 
men.  He  himself  admired  the  simplicity  of 
the  life  of  the  wandering  nomads.  Their 
life  he  believed  to  be  comparatively  pure, 
and  free  both  from  enervating  luxury  and 
the  harsher  forms  of  revenge. 

In  contrast  to  this  he  pictured  the  life  of 
more  civilized  man.  Civilization,  according 
to  his  conviction,  sprang  from  Cain  the 

83 


84       INVENTIONS   OF   THE   SONS   OF   CAIN 

murderer,  who  gave  birth  to  a  race  of  mur- 
derers. These  men  were  ingenious  ;  they 
discovered  the  process  of  working  iron  and 
bronze  ;  they  found  out  the  art  of  producing 
the  harmonious  strains  of  music ;  but, 
though  wise  above  their  simpler  brethren  of 
the  steppe  in  both  the  sterner  and  the  more 
esthetic  sides  of  life,  they  were  still  a  race 
of  murderers.  Their  superior  knowledge 
and  added  skill  only  gave  them  greater 
power  to  gratify  the  spirit  of  revenge,  and 
to  pander  to  all  that  was  unworthy  and 
degrading. 

In  the  thought  of  this  writer,  the  inno- 
cent man  is  the  ignorant  man,  and  the 
happy  life,  the  uncultured  life.  In  this 
view  he  does  not  stand  alone.  Many  noble 
spirits  in  many  different  ages  have  looked 
upon  life  with  the  eyes  of  this  old  nomad, 
and  have  believed  that  purity  could  not 
exist  apart  from  asceticism,  and  that 
"  misery  is  the  thermometer  of  holiness." 

This  point  of  view  finds  a  certain  degree 
of  justification  in  the  fact  that  new  power  is 
almost  universally  first  used  by  men  for 
selfish  or  base  ends.  Wherever  intellectual 


*   INVENTIONS    OF    THE    SONS   OF    CAIN       85 

advancement  outstrips  the  growth  of  the 
moral  sensibilities  the  result  is  to  make  man 
the  meanest  of  animals  ;  he  has  intellectual 
ability  to  be  more  diabolically  cunning  and 
revengeful  than  any  other  living  thing.  It 
always  happens,  too,  that  each  newly  ac- 
quired power  or  bit  of  knowledge  is  used  by 
man  for  selfish  and  hurtful  ends,  until,  led 
by  experience  of  the  harmful  effects  of  such 
a  course,  and  by  the  growth  of  his  moral 
sense,  he  turns  his  new  abilities  to  unselfish 
or  elevating  pursuits.  This  is  sure  to  come 
in  time,  if  not  to  the  individual,  at  all  events 
to  the  race ;  and  thus  in  this  fact  the  hope 
of  progress  in  things  material  or  spiritual 
lies. 

The  Biblical  writer  was  looking  upon  the 
earlier  stages  of  this  process,  and  like  many 
others  in  similar  situations,  he  was  dis- 
heartened. Lamech  and  the  descendants  of 
Cain,  like  Cain,  their  ancestor,  surpassed 
their  more  rustic  brethren  in  the  knowledge 
of  many  things  but  gloating  selfishly  in 
their  superior  power,  they  gratified  by  it  the 
appetites  of  their  dark  hatred  and  bloody 
vengeance. 


86       INVENTIONS   OF   THE   SONS   OF   CAIN   * 

This  point  of  view  is,  however,  too  narrow. 
An  increase  in  intellectual  power  will 
ultimately  produce  an  increase  in  moral 
sense,  and  lead  to  higher  ideals  and  better 
aims  than  would  be  possible  without  it. 
Sometimes,  it  is  true,  there  are  individuals 
in  whom  this  does  not  happen  ;  they  harden 
in  their  selfishness  before  the  new  moral 
sense  can  burst  the  shell  of  self.  This  need 
not  happen,  if  education  is  properly  con- 
ducted ;  and  the  only  hope  that  the  race 
will  ever  slough  off  the  animal  in  it  com- 
pletely, and  become  sons  of  God  indeed,  lies 
in  the  promise  that  we  shall 

"  Let  knowledge  grow  from  more  to  more, 
But  more  of  reverence  in  us  dwell ; 
That  mind  and  heart  according  well, 
May  make  one  music  as  before, 
But  vaster." 

We  need  not,  then,  take  the  gloomy  view 
of  the  old  nomadic  writer,  even  though  we 
can  see  enough  of  the  reasons  which  in- 
fluenced him  to  sympathize  with  his  mood. 
The  Lamech  of  his  narrative,  like  some 
individuals  we  may  have  known,  serves  as 
a  sad  warning  of  the  ruinous  consequences 


INVENTIONS    OF   THE   SONS   OF    CAIN       87 

of  a  one-sided  development.  Salvation  from 
such  a  fate  is  to  be  found  not  in  ignorance, 
but  in  a  symmetrical  growth,  in  which  the 
intellect  is  satisfied  with  truth,  the  sensibili- 
ties with  beauty  and  affection,  and  the 
moral  nature  with  goodness.  Man  is  still 
imperfect  and  selfish  ;  too  often  still  he 
makes  knowledge  the  handmaid  of  brutal 
desire  ;  but  the  attitude  of  a  believing  heart 
is  well  described  by  Whittier  : 

"  I  have  not  seen,  I  may  not  see, 

My  hopes  for  man  take  form  in  fact, 
But  God  will  give  the  victory 

In  due  time  ;  in  that  faith  I  act. 
And  he  who  feels  the  future  sure, 
The  baffling  present  may  endure, 
And  bless  meanwhile  the  unseen  Hand  that  leads 
The  heart's  desires  beyond  the  halting  steps  of  deeds. " 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

ENOCH. 

"  And  Enoch  walked  with  God :  and  he  was  not ; 
for  God  took  him."    Gen.  v,  24. 

"  Cold  in  the  dust  this  perish'd  heart  shall  lie, 
But  that  which  warm'd  it  once  shall  never  die." 

— Campbell. 

"  He  said,  '  What's  time  ? '    Leave  Now  for  dogs  and 

apes! 
Man  has  Forever." — Browning. 

AMONG  the  ancient  Semites  as  among  the 
ancient  Greeks,  there  was  no  clear  concep- 
tion of  a  happy  immortal  life.1  It  was 
thought  that  the  dead  went  down  to  the 
underworld  where  they  lived  a  colorless 
and  unhappy  existence,  longing  continually 
for  the  life  of  the  world  which  they  had  left. 
Among  both  Greeks  and  Semites,  however, 
it  was  thought  that  here  and  there  a  remark- 
able individual  who  had  been  able  in  some 
unusual  way  to  obtain  the  favor  of  the  gods 
might  escape  the  abode  of  the  dead  in  the 
world  below  the  earth,  and  go  directly  to 


'For  the  Greek  view  see  Homer's  Odyssey,  Bk,  xi ;  for  the  Semi- 
tic, Jastrow's  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  Ch.  MY. 

88 


ENOCH  89 

the  happy  abode  of  the  gods  themselves. 
Such  was  Herakles  among  the  Greeks,  Par- 
napishtim,  the  Noah  of  the  Babylonians,  and 
Elijah  and  Enoch  among  the  Hebrews. 
Most  men  were  thought  to  go  to  the  world  be- 
low. From  that  world  Samuel  was  brought 
up  for  a  little  while,1  there  Isaiah  and  Eze- 
kiel z  believed  the  dead  to  be,  and  the  un- 
enjoyable  life  there  some  of  the  Psalmists 
commemorated. 3 

In  the  later  Jewish  literature,  Enoch 
played  a  most  significant  part.  He  was 
the  first  of  those  who,  in  the  Hebrew  tradi- 
tions, was  said  to  have  been  sufficiently  for- 
tunate to  escape  the  underworld.  Visions 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  universe,  which  he 
was  supposed  to  have  seen,  were  recounted 
by  several  different  writers,4  and  were  held 
in  such  high  esteem  by  the  early  Christians 
that  one  of  them  is  quoted  in  the  New  Test- 
ament Epistle  of  Jude. 6 

The  idea  of  immortality,  as  we  understand 
it,  was  not  held  by  the  Hebrews  until  after 

1  Samuel  xxviii,  11-14,  -  Isa.  xiv,  9-20,  and  Ex.  xxxii,  13-31. 
3  Psa.  IxxxYiii,  10,  and  cxv,  17.  *  See  Charles's  Book  of  Enoch, 
and  Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enoch.  For  the  rise  of  the  Enoch  tradi- 
tions, see  Worcester's  Genesis  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Knowledge, 
Appendix  III.  •  See  v,  14. 


90  ENOCH 

their  contact  with  the  Greeks,  when  their 
thinking  became  colored  by  the  Platonic  or 
neo-Platonic  philosophy.  The  germ  of  the 
thought  was,  nevertheless,  entertained  by 
them  long  before,  and  had  found  expression 
in  the  belief  that  Enoch  and  Elijah  had 
been  translated,  i.  e.  taken  directly  to  the 
abode  of  God.  After  the  Platonic  ideas  had 
begun  to  influence  them,  they  still  thought 
that  all  who  died  went  to  Sheol,  or  the 
underworld,  to  await  a  general  resurrection 
at  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  This  was 
the  view  of  the  Apostle  Paul  when  he  wrote 
his  earlier  Epistles,1  but  in  the  fifth  chap- 
ter of  second  Corinthians  he  shows  that  he 
had  abandoned  it,  and  was  looking  for- 
ward to  immediate  union  with  God  when 
released  from  the  body.  He  also  gives 
expression  to  the  same  view  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Philippians. 2 

Viewed  historically,  therefore,  the  belief 
in  the  translation  of  Enoch  is  the  germ  or 
type  of  the  New  Testament  teaching  of 
immortality,  and  a  most  suggestive  type  it 


1 1.  e..  those    to  the  Thessalouians.    See  IDT  article  in  the  New 
World.    March,  1899,  p.  119  ff.     »  Phil,  i,  23. 


ENOCH  91 

is.  Enoch,  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
delares,1  had  the  testimony  that  he  pleased 
God ;  God,  accordingly  took  him  to  His 
abode  that  he  might  live  in  a  closer  union 
and  walk  with  Himself.  This  story  teaches 
in  another  way,  the  same  lesson  that  the 
accounts  of  man's  creation  teach,  and  which 
is  taught  also  by  the  primitive  conceptions 
of  sacrifice.  Man  is  by  his  nature  and  by 
God's  favor  destined  for  God's  own  compan- 
ionship. To  attain  this  is  his  highest  felic- 
ity ;  to  lose  it,  his  greatest  misfortune  and 
severest  punishment.  This  destiny,  too,  is 
not  for  a  day,  but  for  the  aeons  of  eternity 
— aeons  of  unimaginable  length.  Could 
we  but  keep  always  in  mind  the  truths 
for  which  the  story  of  Enoch  stands  what  a 
different  perspective  life  would  have  !  Many 
little  things,  which  now  cause  us  so  much 
worry,  would  take  in  our  minds  the  insigni- 
ficant position  which  is  theirs  by  right,  and 
other  things,  which  now  are  often  crowded 
into  the  background  of  our  thought  and 
activities,  would  assume  their  proper  place 
as  of  supreme  significance. 

'Heb.xi,5,6. 


92  ENOCH 

Some  aspects  of  this  great  truth  we  of  the 
twentieth  century  are  in  a  better  position  to 
appreciate  than  any  of  our  predecessors. 
We  are  compelled  by  the  science  of  our  time 
to  believe  in  a  God  who  is  immanent  in  His 
world.  We  know  that  He  is  not  far  from 
every  one  of  us;  "in  Him  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being."  We  do  not 
need  to  wait  for  translation  to  another  abode 
in  order  to  walk  with  Him.  His  spirit  is 
here  ;  it  is  the  atmosphere  of  all  noble  lives, 
the  inspiration  of  all  goodness  and  excel- 
lence. The  immortal  felicity  which  we  long 
for  has  its  roots  in  the  present,  and  may 
begin  here.  The  walk  with  God  will  never 
be  enjoyed  in  the  other  world  unless  it 
is  begun  in  this.  Other-worldliness  must 
spring  from  the  right  kind  of  this-worldli- 
ness.  The  soul,  which  walks  with  God 
faithfully  in  a  pure  and  unselfish  life  on 
earth,  will,  with  all  the  faithful  of  former 
ages,  be  welcomed  into  a  closer  walk  with 
the  Father,  when  the  "earthly  house  of 
this  tabernacle  is  dissolved,"  and  we  enter 
the  house  which  is  "eternal  in  the  heavens." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

SONS  OF  GOD. 

"  There  shall  they  be  called  sons  of  the  living  God." 
Romans  ix,  26. 

"  The  lives  which  seem  so  poor,  so  low, 
The  hearts  which  are  so  cramped  and  dull, 
The  baffled  hopes,  the  impulse  slow, 
Thou  takest,  touchest  all,  and  lo  ! 
They  blossom  to  the  beautiful." 

— Susan  Coolidge. 

FROM  the  earliest  times  men  have  felt 
that  no  man  could  rise  above  the  common- 
place average  of  human  life,  and  do  the 
noblest  work  of  man,  unless  there  dwelt  in 
him  a  spark  of  the  divine  nature.  Among 
early  men  this  belief  was  expressed  in  very 
crude  forms.  These  forms  were,  however, 
the  only  ones  suited  to  their  state  of  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  culture,  and,  though 
they  are  crude,  they,  nevertheless,  positively 
express  the  faith  that  the  best  in  life  can 
be  achieved  only  by  those  who  have  a  kin- 
ship to  God. 

Among  the  Greeks  we  know  that  men 
like  Herakles  were  thought  to  be  able  to  do 

93 


94  THE   SONS   OF   GOD 

their  great  works  because  they  had  a  god  for 
their  father.  One  trace  of  a  similar  concep- 
tion among  the  Hebrews  has  survived.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  sixth  chapter  of  Gene- 
sis we  are  told  that  the  "  sons  of  God  saw 
the  daughters  of  men  that  they  were  fair ; 
and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  that  they 
chose,"  (v.  2) ;  and  further  we  are  told 
(v.  4),  that  "  when  the  sons  of  God  came  in 
unto  the  daughters  of  men,  and  they  bare 
children  unto  them :  the  same  were  the 
mighty  men  that  were  of  old,  the  men  of 
renown."  In  this  passage  the  "  sons  of 
God"  are  angels.1  The  Hebrew  writer  was 
a  monotheist.  He  could  not,  like  a  Greek, 
represent  a  god  as  consorting  with  a  human 
wife  ;  he  therefore  conceived  that  an  angel, 
or  a  group  of  angels,  had  done  so.  Later, 
shortly  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era,  it  was  thought  by  the  author  of  a  part 
of  the  book  of  Enoch  2  that  these  angels 
had  fallen  or  they  would  not  have  done  this, 
and  that  by  doing  it  they  had  introduced 


1  For  proof  of  this  see  Toy's  Judaism  and  Christianity,  pp.  147, 
159,  Eyle's  Early  Narratives  of  Genesis,  pp.  93-95.  and  Worcester's 
Genesis  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Knowledge,  en.  XT.  *  See  the 
Book  of  Enoch,  chs.  vi-x. 


THE   SONS   OF   GOD  95 

sin  into  the  world.  In  this  opinion  many 
others  shared,  including  the  authors  of 
two  of  our  New  Testament  Epistles.1  This 
view  was,  nevertheless,  a  later  interpreta- 
tion. It  was  certainly,  not  held  by  the 
original  writer  of  the  story.  To  him  the 
only  adequate  explanation  of  the  fact,  that 
certain  men  of  olden  time  had  risen  above 
their  fellows  and  accomplished  noble  and 
daring  deeds,  was  that  they  were  of  heav- 
enly ancestry, — angels  were  their  fathers. 

In  presenting  this  conception  the  primi- 
tive writer  gave  expression  to  a  great  truth. 
Human  life  is  flat  and  insipid,  if  not  corrupt 
and  debased,  except  when  it  has  by  birth  an 
inheritance  of  the  heavenly  nature,  the 
God-begotten  genius,  the  angelic  inspiration, 
or  the  divine  spirit.  Men  thus  regard  still 
those  who  have  achieved  the  greatest  work 
for  the  race.  If  we  look  upon  Washington 
in  a  different  way  from  that  in  which  the 
Roman  looked  upon  Romulus  or  the  Hebrew 
upon  Moses,  the  difference  is  a  difference  of 
degree,  rather  than  a  difference  of  kind.  We 
recognize  him  as  the  man  raised  up  and 

1  See  Epistle  of  Jude,  5, 6,  and  2  Pet.  ii,  4. 


96  THE   SONS   OF   GOD 

prepared  by  God  for  the  great  task  which 
he  achieved.  Liberty  has  been  secured  to 
men  by  sons  of  God,  among  whom  we 
thankfully  count  Abraham  Lincoln.  The 
great  geniuses  in  literature,  like  Homer  and 
Shakespeare,  compel  men  to  stand  before 
them  in  awe  and  confess  that  such  power 
can  only  come  to  man  as  a  gift  from  above. 
But  more  nearly  akin  to  the  meaning  of  our 
primitive  story  than  any  of  these  is  the 
source  of  the  power  exhibited  by  the  great 
religious  heroes  of  our  race.  Whence  came 
the  power  of  Elijah,  of  Amos,  of  Hosea,  of 
Isaiah,  and  of  the  other  prophets  ?  Whence, 
that  of  Paul,  of  Ignatius,  of  Clement,  of 
Augustine,  of  Luther,  of  Savonarola,  and  of 
George  Fox  ?  Men  were  they,  of  like  pas- 
sions with  us,  but,  born  from  above,  they 
had  the  power  to  hew  out  for  us  the  high- 
ways of  religious  liberty.  They  are  among 
the  heroes  of  old,  "  the  men  of  renown." 

But  God  is  not  partial.  The  same  heavenly 
ancestry  awaits  each  one  of  us.  Similar 
power,  if  not  similar  work,  is  offered  to  us 
all. 


THE   SONS   OF   GOD  97 

"  The  world  sits  at  the  feet  of  Christ, 
Unknowing,  blind  and  unconsoled  ; 
It  yet  shall  touch  His  garment's  fold, 
And  feel  the  heavenly  Alchemist 
Transform  its  very  dust  to  gold." 

"  The  earnest  expectation  of  the  creation," 
says  Paul,  "  waiteth  for  the  revealing  of  the 
sons  of  God/'1  and  he  remarks  in  the  same 
connection,  "  The  whole  creation  groaneth 
and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now.8 
Nineteen  centuries  have  past  and  still  the 
world  waits  and  groans.  The  world  in  our 
times  teems  with  herculean  tasks,  each 
awaiting  for  its  accomplishment  the  coming 
of  some  son  of  God.  May  that  birth  and 
anointing  come  to  each  of  us  which  will  fit 
us  to  take  up  the  work  of  these  heaven-sent 
heroes,  who  lift  the  burdens  of  mankind ! 

'Romans  viii,  19.     "Romans  vili,  22. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

NOAH. 

"By faith,  Noah,  being  warned  of  God  concerning 
things  not  seen  as  yet  .  .  .  prepared  an  ark  for 
the  saving  of  his  house  ."  Heb.  xi,  3. 

"  Hide  rue,  O  niy  Savior,  hide, 

Till  the  storm  of  life  be  past ; 
Safe  into  the  haven  guide, 
O  receive  my  soul  at  last." 

— Charles  Wesley. 

THE  story  of  the  flood,  of  the  building  of 
the  ark,  and  the  survival  of  Noah  and  his 
family,  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  in  the 
Old  Testament.  In  recent  years  it  has 
received  much  illumination  from  archaeolog- 
ical research,  and  has  accordingly  attracted 
public  attention  anew.  The  foundation  of  it 
turns  out  to  be  a  part  of  an  old  Babylonian 
epic.1  Study  of  the  Biblical  narrative  itself 
has  also  made  it  evident  that  the  story 
was  independently  written  by  two  differ- 
ent Hebrew  authors,  whose  narratives  were 
afterward  combined  by  an  editor  into  the 

1  See  Jastrow's  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  p.  494  ff., 
Worcester's  Genesis  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Knowledge,  ch.  xri, 
and  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  Literature,  Aldine  ed.  p.  350  ff. 

98 


NOAH  99 

form  in  which  they  now  appear  in  our 
Bibles.2 

When  we  put  these  Hebrew  narratives 
into  comparison  with  the  older  Babylonian 
story  from  which  they  were  in  a  way 
derived,  the  real  inspiration  of  the  Biblical 
narrators  stands  out  most  clearly.  In  Baby- 
lon the  tale  was  told  in  such  a  way  that 
divine  things  seemed  quite  trivial,  and  their 
gods,  mean  men  of  gigantic  power  ;  in  Israel 
it  was  told  in  a  way  to  exalt  one's  concep- 
tion of  God,  deepen  one's  sense  of  the  terri- 
ble nature  of  sin  and  the  surety  of  its 
punishment,  and  to  mirror  to  after  genera- 
tions the  hope  that  God  would  preserve  and 
reward  the  righteous. 

The  lesson  thus  set  forth  is  of  peren- 
nial value.  Our  age  perceives,  as  our  fore- 
fathers did  not,  the  instruments  by  which 
God  does  His  work.  We  call  them  second- 
ary causes,  but  we  too  often  permit  our 
vision  of  these  to  obscure  our  consciousness 
of  the  first  and  primal  Cause.  God  still 
controls  our  life.  No  storm  or  flood  over- 


"  See  J.  E.  Carpenter  and  G.   Harford-Battersby's  Hexateuch 
Vol.  II,  p.  10  ff. 


100  NOAH 

takes  us  without  His  knowledge  and  per- 
mission. "  Not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground 
without  your  Father."  We  should  see  God 
in  everything.  Back  to  this  living  faith 
an  age  which  professes  to  believe  in  an 
immanent  God  needs  to  be  recalled. 

A  generation,  which  has  moved  away 
from  many  beliefs  which  were  formerly 
thought  to  be  the  safeguards  of  morality,  is 
in  danger  of  losing  its  power  of  making 
clear  moral  distinctions.  There  is  a  ten- 
dency to  laxity  in  moral  judgments.  We 
need  to  learn  again  the  lesson  which  the 
Hebrew  writers  saw  in  the  deluge,  and  let 
the  primary  truth,  that  while  the  world 
stands  sin  will  inevitably  bring  ruin,  burn 
itself  into  our  hearts.  If  the  Biblical  wri- 
ter's interpretation  of  external  events  does 
not  appeal  to  us,  there  are  still  passing 
before  our  eyes  evety  year  myriads  of  illus'- 
trations  of  his  point.  "  Righteousness  exalt- 
eth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any 
people  ; "  and,  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death." 

Earth's  floods  are  not  all  past.  Floods  of 
barbarism,  of  drunkenness,  and  injustice 
in  the  social  order  still  roll  about  us. 


NOAH  101 

Prophetic  spirits  perceive  that  these  floods 
bid  fair  to  ruin  our  modern  life,  unless  some 
ark  can  be  prepared  in  which  society  can 
ride  upon  the  fierce  tides,  which  are  now 
threatening  to  submerge  her.  Like  Amos 
and  Hosea  of  old,  like  Garrison  and  Whit- 
tier  in  the  anti-slavery  days,  it  is  given  to 
them  to  see  the  right,  to  obey  it,  to  seek  to 
lead  others  to  acknowledge  its  sway,  and  to 
build  for  the  future.  These  men  are  the 
Noahs  of  the  present  generation.  They  are 
misunderstood,  misbelieved,  misrepresented, 
and  scoffed  at,  but  they  are  the  saviors  of 
mankind,  the  founders  of  the  society  of  the 
future.  The  story  of  Noah  is  a  parable  of 
encouragement  to  such  as  these ;  it  assures 
them  of  the  triumph  of  right,  of  principle, 
and  of  faith.  Noah  is  said  to  have  been  so 
named  because  he  was  destined  to  give  com- 
fort to  men,1  so  our  modern  prophets  and 
reformers,  in  so  far  as  they  perceive  the 
truth  and  labor  for  it,  are  destined  to  com- 
fort mankind,  and  give  rest  to  lives  now 
tossed  upon  the  feverish  tides  of  unright- 
eousness and  injustice. 

1  See  Genesis  v.  29.    The  name,  Noah,  comes  from  a  Hebrew  root 
which  meaus  "  to  rest",  causative,  "  to  give  rest." 


102  NOAH 

May  the  righteousness,  the  prophetic 
insight,  the  lofty  faith,  and  the  untiring 
labor  of  the  hero  of  the  deluge  be  emulated 
by  us  all !  It  is  natural  to  seek  a  refuge  for 
one's  self  from  sin  and  all  its  consequences ; 
and  it  is  right  so  to  do.  The  great  Master 
of  righteousness  and  Savior  of  men  will  not 
let  us  seek  this  for  self  alone ;  He  bids  us 
work  for  the  salvation  of  all. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

BABEL. 

'  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ?  "    Job  xi,  7. 

"How  silently,  how  silently, 
The  wondrous  gift  is  given  ! 
So  God  imparts  to  human  hearts 
The  blessings  of  His  heaven. 
No  ear  may  hear  His  coming, 
But  in  this  world  of  sin, 
Where  meek  souls  will  receive  Him  still, 
The  dear  Christ  enters  in." 

— Phillips  Brooks. 

THE  fact  that  different  nations  or  tribes 
speak  different  languages,  and  that  their 
speech  is  unintelligible  to  those  outside  their 
own  borders,  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
early  man.  He,  like  his  later  descendants, 
sought  to  understand  the  cause  of  so  striking 
a  phenomenon.  The  story  of  the  confusion 
of  tongues  at  the  tower  of  Babel  contains 
the  early  Hebrew  explanation  of  this  import- 
ant fact.  It  is  an  explanation  which  satis- 
fied a  primitive  mind,  but  which  we  have 
no  right  to  expect  will  satisfy  the  condi- 
tions of  the  larger  knowledge  of  modern 
103 


104  BABEL 

times.  Indeed,  we  are  compelled  now  to 
recognize  that  in  many  respects  the  expla- 
nation is  faulty.1  For  the  purposes  of  this 
meditation,  however,  we  shall  dwell  on  its 
religious  rather  than  its  scientific  aspects. 

The  story  is  told  us  in  the  book  of  Gene- 
sis by  the  same  writer  who  penned  for  us 
the  story  of  Lamech,  and  to  his  mind  it 
taught  the  same  lesson,  viz  : — that  knowl- 
edge is  dangerous,  and  should  not  be  sought, 
even  if  it  be  knowledge  of  God.  The  ele- 
ment of  truth  in  this  position  we  have 
already  recognized  and  appreciated.2  Knowl- 
edge without  moral  purpose  is  irreverent 
and  wicked.  When  curiosity  outruns  spir- 
itual insight  and  selfishness  dominates  the 
man,  superior  knowledge  makes  of  him  a 
superior  demon. 

Another  aspect  of  this  story  of  Babel 
should  also  claim  attention.  Its  author  has 
pathetically  pictured  an  incident  in  the  uni- 
versal search  of  man  for  God.  Laboriously 


1  For  example,  there  were  different  languages  in  the  world  long 
before  the  date  he  mentions,  and  long  before  men  were  civilized  in 
Babylonia.  His  etymology  of  "  Babel ",  too,  is  now  known  to  b« 
erroneous.  See  Eyle's,  Early  Narratives  of  Genesis  p.  137  ff.,  and 
Worcester's  Genesis  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Knowledge, p.  512  ff. 
3  See  above,  ch.  xvii. 


BABEL  105 

erected  towers,  weary  pilgrimages,  the  dis- 
tance of  which  is  measured  off  by  repeatedly 
stretching  the  length  of  the  pilgrim  upon 
the  ground,  forms  crushed  under  the  car  of 
Juggernaut,  and  eager  saints,  standing  in 
filth  for  years  on  the  top  of  lofty  pillars, 
attest  the  reality  of  the  cry  of  the  human 
heart :  "  Oh,  that  I  knew  where  I  might 
find  Him  ! " 

This  aspect  of  the  story  of  Babel,  which 
is  voiced  in  so  much  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  rings  so  pathetically  through  the  book 
of  Job,  is  only  adequately  met  and  satisfied 
when  we  come  to  the  New  Testament  and 
hear  its  message.  There  we  are  taught  that 
man  is  not  engaged  in  a  fruitless  quest  for 
a  God  who  ever  escapes  him,  but  that  God 
is  as  eagerly  seeking  man  as  man  is  seeking 
God.  This  truth  is  expressed  in  many  par- 
ables :  that  of  the  woman  seeking  her  lost 
coin ;  that  of  the  shepherd  seeking  the 
straying  sheep  ;  that  of  the  father  watching 
for  the  prodigal  son.  God  has  been  engaged 
in  the  search  much  longer  than  man  ;  His 
Spirit  broods  over  each  heart  seeking  an 
entrance  into  it.  Man  has  missed  Him 


106  BABEL 

because  he  sought  Him  wrongly.  No  one 
has  to  ascend  up  into  heaven  to  bring  Him 
down,  nor  to  descend  into  the  deep  to  bring 
Him  up,  nor  destroy  the  body  with  ascetic 
excesses  to  discover  Him,  nor  to  compass 
the  secrets  of  the  universe  to  gain  knowledge 
of  Him.  "  Raise  the  stone  and  there  thou 
shalt  find  me,  cleave  the  wood  and  there 
am  I,"  says  Jesus  in  the  long-forgotten 
verse  recently  recovered  in  Egypt.1  But 
we  learn  the  lesson  slowly.  God  comes  to 
us  in  common  things.  He  reveals  himself 
in  familiar  faces,  in  the  daily  routine  of  life, 
in  its  little  details,  in  its  prosaic  drudgery, 
in  its  little  joys,  and  even  in  its  sorrows. 
The  still  small  voice  of  His  Spirit  speaks, 
and  wherever  one  will  listen,  will  bid  Him 
welcome  and  will  heed  His  voice,  there  God 
is  found.  Not  the  supreme  effort  of  a  Babel  - 
like  tower,  but  the  silent  surrender  of  the 
life  to  God,  is  the  one  requisite. 

"  Where  meek  souls  will  receive  Him  still, 
The  dear  Christ  enters  in." 

His  presence  is  manifested  in  the  fact  that 
there  the  confusion  of  Babel  is  replaced  by 
harmony,  love,  and  a  heavenly  peace. 

1  See  Greenfell  and  Hunt's  Sayings  of  our  Lord,  p.  12. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  CALL  OF  ABRAHAM. 

"  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  called  .  .  .  went 
out,  not  knowing  whither  he  went  .  .  .  for  he 
looked  for  a  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God."  Heb.  xi,  8,  10. 

"Our  Friend,  our  Brother,  and  our  Lord, 

What  may  thy  service  be  ? — 
Nor  name,  nor  form,  nor  ritual  word, 
But  simply  following  Thee." 

—  Whittier. 

THE  narratives  of  the  life  of  Abraham 
are  somewhat  puzzling  to  the  archaeologist 
and  the  historical  student.  The  reason  for 
this,  is  that  while  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  has 
been  identified,  and  some  discoveries  made 
there,  and  while  many  documents  have 
been  found  which  bear  upon  the  general 
period  of  Abraham,  these  documents  not 
only  do  not  mention  Abraham  himself,  but 
raise  some  knotty  questions  concerning  the 
historical  period  in  which  the  Bible  places 
him.  Others1  have  discussed  these  problems 


1  For  discussions  of  these  see  the  articles  "  Abraham  "  in  Hastings 

'y  Hi 

107 


Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  the  Encyclopedia  £tblica,sand  the  Jewish 
Encyclopedia.  Also  ch.  iii,  of  Paton's  Early  History  of  Syria 
and  Palestine, 


108  THE   CALL   OF   ABRAHAM 

however,  and  in  this  little  study  we  turn 
to  a  pleasanter  task. 

No  narrative  in  the  Old  Testament  more 
strongly  portrays  in  parable  the  high  quali- 
ties and  noble  career  of  the  idealist  and  the 
spiritual  mystic  than  does  this  story  of  Abra- 
ham. He  saw  the  vision  of  God,  he  heard 
the  divine  call  to  leave  the  rich  valley  of 
the  Euphrates  for  a  far-off  land,  and  he 
obeyed.  In  that  land  he  was  a  wanderer ; 
for  years  the  hope  with  which  he  started  out, 
— the  hope  of  founding  an  ideal  state, — found 
in  the  outward  circumstances  of  his  life  no 
objective  support.  Nevertheless  he  still  held 
his  faith,  and  pursued  undaunted  his  high 
purpose.  This  picture  is  attractively  pre- 
sented, notwithstanding  the  fact,  that  there 
is  here  and  there  a  crude  moral  touch,  which 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  age  in  which 
the  narrators  of  the  story  lived.1 

The  call  of  God  comes  to  all.  To  the 
heart  which  has  not  yet  found  God,  and 
which  is  tempted  to  live  in  accordance  with 
the  ideals  of  selfishness  and  expediency,  the 


1  Such,  for  example,  as  Abraham's  denial  of  Sarah.  Gen.  xii,  12, 
13,  and  ix,  2. 


THE    CALL    OF    ABRAHAM  109 

call  comes  in  the  form  of  a  summons  to  find 
its  satisfaction  and  its  home  in  the  Father's 
love,  and  its  rule  of  life  in  the  pure  exam- 
ple of  Jesus  Christ.  Born  in  an  animal  body 
and  reared  in  a  selfish  world,  such  a  call 
seems  to  the  natural  man  a  summons  to  an 
unknown  country, — a  great  leap  of  faith. 
Peace  can,  however,  come  in  no  other  way 
than  by  obedience.  The  heart  will  never 
rest  except  in  the  Father's  service.  Outward 
prosperity  may  not  come  to  the  obedient; 
he  may,  like  Abraham,  be  all  his  life  a  pil- 
grim and  a  sojourner ;  and  yet  the  future  is 
his ;  he  is  building  in  the  "  city  which  hath 
foundations." 

Often  the  call  to  enter  upon  some  self- 
sacrificing  service  for  others,  comes  to  hearts 
already  possessed  of  God's  peace.  It  means 
hardship,  but  it  portends  blessing  to  others. 
Such  are  the  calls  which  have  come  in  every 
age  to  the  prophets,  the  reformers,  and  the 
missionaries.  The  illumination  of  a  dark 
continent,  the  uplifting  of  the  down-trod- 
den, or  the  prosperity  of  generations  yet 
unborn,  depend  upon  the  response  which 
a  few  individuals  give  to  such  calls. 


110  THE   CALL    OF    ABRAHAM 

Obedience  involves  the  leaving  of  home,  or 
friends,  or  ease,  or  the  esteem  of  contempora- 
ries, but  it  also  means  fellowship  with  God 
in  labor,  and  the  founding  of  some  new  gate 
into  the  holy  city.  Similar  calls  to  similar, 
though  less  conspicuous,  service  come  to  us 
all.  How  seldom  we  are  faithful  as  was 
Abraham ! 

There  are  periods  when  the  divine  call 
comes  to  all  men  to  move  from  the  old 
regions  of  their  thought  and  beliefs  into 
new  intellectual  worlds.  Such  a  period 
came  to  Europe  at  the  time  of  the  Renais- 
sance and  the  Reformation,  and  another  has 
come  to  the  modern  world  within  the  past 
century.  We  have  been  called  upon  to 
leave  the  old  intellectual  paths  which  had 
grown  familiar  to  our  ancestors,  and  had 
been  hallowed  to  us  by  the  footsteps  of  many 
whom  we  loved  and  revered,  and  to  go  out, 
not  knowing  whither  we  should  be  led. 
Many  have  hesitated ;  many  have  gone 
unwillingly;  some  have,  refused  to  go  at 
all.  A  few,  with  Abraham's  faith  and  with 
the  spirits  of  prophets  have  gone  with  trust- 
ful and  buoyant  hearts,  confident  that  God 


THE   CALL   OF   ABRAHAM  111 

was  thus  leading  to  a  better  intellectual  and 
spiritual  future.  The  next  generation  will 
recognize  their  moral  heroism. 

As  we  near  life's  boundary, — and  it  is 
often  much  nearer  than  we  think, — the 
summons  comes  to  us  all  to  go  out  into  the 
great  unknown  country  of  the  other  life. 
Can  we  go  calmly  and  trustfully,  confident 
of  the  Father's  goodness?  The  spiritual 
children  of  Abraham  are  able  to  sing  with 
Whittier : 

"  I  know  not  where  His  islands  lift 

Their  fronded  palms  in  air  ; 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift 
Beyond  His  love  and  care." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

JACOB  AT  BETHEL. 

"Surely  Jehovah  is  in    this  place;  and  I  knew  it 
not."    Gen.  xxviii,  16. 

"Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy  ! 
Shades  of  the  prison-house  begin  to  close 

Upon  the  growing  Boy, 
But  he  beholds  the  light,  and  whence  it  flows, 

He  sees  it  in  his  joy  ; 
The  Youth,  who  daily  farther  from  the  east 

Must  travel,  still  is  Nature's  Priest, 

And  by  the  vision  splendid 

Is  on  his  way  attended  ; 
At  length  the  Man  perceives  it  die  away, 
And  fade  into  the  light  of  common  day." 

—  Wordsworth. 

OF  all  the  characters  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Jacob  is  the  most  human,  and  is  most 
humanly  pictured.1  Many  features  of  his 
portrait  are  such  as  to  delight  the  Oriental 
mind  both  in  ancient  and  in  modern  times. 
He  was  rightly  named  the  "  Supplanter." 
Cool,  self-controlled,  and  wily,  he  pushed 
his  way,  snatching  by  trickery  that  which 

1  For  critical  and  historical  discussions,  see  the  articles  "  Jacob" 
in  Basting's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  and  in  the  Encyclopedia 
Biblica. 

112 


JACOB   AT   BETHEL  113 

birth  and  natural  advantages  had  given  to 
another.  Though  uniformly  successful  in 
his  strategy,  like  all  such  characters  he 
attracted  the  hatred  of  his  victim,  and 
that  hatred  endangered  Jacob's  life.  In  the 
opening  years  of  his  dawning  manhood  this 
pushing  trickster  was  therefore  obliged  to 
ilee  from  home  and  go  out  into  the  world  to 
seek  his  fortune.  Alone  and  defenceless, 
harried  by  the  pangs  of  an  evil  conscience, 
but  also  filled  with  the  light  heart  and  high 
hopes  of  youth,  which  did  not  fully  per- 
ceive all  the  consequences  of  his  double 
dealing,  Jacob,  we  are  told,  camped  for  the 
night  at  Bethel. 

Now  the  Hebrews,  like  the  ancient  Semites 
in  general,1  did  not  understand  the  omni- 
presence of  God  as  we  do,  but  thought  that 
He  dwelt  in  certain  places,  and  manifested 
Himself  most  remarkably  there.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  idea,  an  old  law  3  provides 
that  in  every  place  where  God  manifested 
Himself  an  altar  for  his  worship  might  be 
erected.  The  thought,  which  underlies  the 


1  See  W.  Robertson  Smith's  Religion  of  the  Semites,  115  ff.,  and 
the  writer's  Semitic  Origins,  p.  96,  and  112.    "  See  Exodus  xx,  24-26. 


114  JACOB   AT   BETHEL 

law,  is  that  man  does  not  know  all  the 
places  where  God  dwells,  and  that  it  is  right 
for  him  when  new  knowledge  comes  to  him, 
to  recognize  it  by  a  permanent  religious 
organization. 

Jacob,  as  he  lay  down  that  night,  dreamed 
a  dream.  Heaven  seemed  to  be  open  above 
him,  the  angels  of  God  were  ascending 
and  descending  on  a  ladder.  At  the  top 
Jehovah  Himself  appeared  and  seemed  to 
promise  to  Jacob  and  his  posterity  a  noble 
and  glorious  future.  In  the  morning  Jacob 
awoke  deeply  impressed.  Feelings  of  awe 
filled  his  breast.  "  Jehovah  is  in  this  place," 
he  exclaimed,  "and  I  knew  it  not.  How 
terrible  is  this  place  !  this  is  none  other  than 
the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of 
heaven."  a  He  was  impressed  and  accord- 
ingly vowed  a  vow,  or  made  a  covenant 
with  his  God ;  but  his  old  habit  of  thought 
asserted  itself,  and  his  covenant  was  a  selfish 
bargain.  "  If  God  will  be  with  me,  and 
will  keep  me  in  this  way  that  I  go,  and 
will  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and  raiment  to 
put  on,  so  that  I  come  again  to  my  Father's 

1  Accordingly,  in  later  time,  Bethel  was  a  sanctuary. 


JACOB   AT   BETHEL  115 

house  in  peace,  then  Jehovah  shall  be  my 
God."  He  had  had  his  heavenly  vision, 
and  it  had  stirred  his  heart,  but  he  was  not 
ready  to  surrender  to  his  God  unless  he 
could  gain  some  material  advantage  by 
doing  so. 

We  often  judge  Jacob  too  severely,  forget- 
ting to  make  allowance  for  the  crude  and 
this-worldly  standards  of  the  age  from  which 
this  story  comes.  We  ought,  however,  to 
judge  ourselves  through  it,  for  it  is  an 
admirable  parable  of  the  experience  of  many 
a  young  man.  He  is  a  child  of  prayer  and 
of  promise.  Heaven  lies  about  him  in  his 
infancy.  As  he  grows,  cupidity,  avarice, 
and  ambition  tempt  him.  He  finds  that 
the  world  has  praise  only  for  success  and 
possessions,  and,  with  moral  distinctions 
confused,  he  rushes  after  these  regardless  of 
the  means  by  which  they  are  to  be  attained 
or  the  consequences  of  the  pursuit.  Long 
is  he  attended  on  his  way  by  visions  splendid, 
but  he  does  not  abandon  his  strife  for  the 
earthly  and  the  material  things  of  life.  In 
some  great  crisis  a  supreme  vision  comes, 
bringing  a  message  which  he  cannot  mistake, 


116  JACOB   AT   BETHEL 

but  if  he  heeds  at  all,  it  is,  like  Jacob, 
in  a  bargain  which  stipulates  that  earthly 
prosperity  shall  be  the  condition  on  which 
the  homage  of  his  soul  shall  rise  to  God. 
This  is  the  spiritual  biography  of  many  a 
man.  No  wonder  that 

"  The  man  perceives  it  die  away, 
And  melt  into  the  light  of  common  day." 

Happy  are  such  as  have  Jocob's  later 
experience  and  become  at  last  princes  with 
God! 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HOW  JACOB  BECAME  ISRAEL. 

' '  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except  thou'  bless  me.  Gen. 
xxxii,  26. 

"  111  that  He  blesses  is  our  good, 

And  unblest  good  is  ill ; 
And  all  is  right  that  seems  most  wrong, 
If  it  be  His  sweet  will." 

— Faber. 

ANOTHER  picture  in  the  life  of  Jacob  por- 
trays him  somewhat  more  attractively.  He 
had  spent  his  years  in  Aram,  his  family  was 
about  him,  he  had  acquired  wealth,  and  was 
on  his  way  back  to  his  native  land.  His 
departure  from  Aram  was  signalized  by 
trickery  similar  to  that,  the  consequences  of 
which  had  originally  driven  him  from 
Canaan.  At  last  his  peace  was  made  with 
Laban,  his  family  and  his  flocks  had  passed 
on  before,  and  he  was  spending  the  night 
alone.  To-morrow  he  must  meet  the  brother 
whom  years  before  he  had  so  deeply  wronged. 
What  will  the  greeting  be  ?  How  will  Esau 
receive  him?  As  he  thought  on  this  with 
some  foreboding  a  man  attacked  him  in  the 

117 


118  HOW    JACOB    BECAME    ISRAEL 

darkness,  with  whom  he  wrestled  long.  In 
the  wrestling  Jacob  was  finally  hurt,  so  that 
he  could  do  little  but  cling,  but,  as  the  night 
passed,  he  became  convinced  that  his  hurter 
was  more  than  human,  and  declared  to  him, 
"  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except  thou  bless 
me."  To  this  resolution  he  clung  until  the 
blessing  was  obtained,  and  as  morning 
dawned  his  old  nature  vanished.  He  was 
no  longer  Jacob,  the  "  Supplanter,"  but 
Israel,  "  a  Prince  with  God."  In  the  light 
of  the  next  day,  as  he  passed  over  the  trans- 
Jordanic  hills,  we  are  told  that  he  named 
the  place  Peniel,  or  "  Presence  of  God,"  be- 
cause there  he  had  come  face  to  face  with 
his  Maker.  This  tradition  is,  as  Dr.  Gannett 
has  pointed  out,1  a  parable  of  many  a  life. 
"We  are  all  born  with  the  nature  of  the  sup- 
planter  within  us.  Like  Jacob,  we  spend 
much  of  our  lives  living  it  out.  Like  him, 
too,  we  find  much  in  life  to  hurt  us, — much 
to  wrestle  with  ;  and  often,  like  him,  we 
wrestle  long  in  darkness  and  cheerless  night. 
One  class  of  the  things  with  which  we 
wrestle  consists  of  inherited  tendencies  and 


1  See  his  sermon,  Wrestling  and  Blessing. 


HOW    JACOB    BECAME    ISRAEL,  119 

limitations.  We  do  not  choose  our  parent- 
age ;  we  are  born  into  circumstances  over 
which  we  have  no  control.  The  powers, 
the  nature,  or  the  poverty,  which  we  inherit, 
painfully  limit  our  success.  Many  a  one 
patiently  pushes  on  in  the  darkness  of  a 
hopeless  struggle,  outstripped  by  those  who 
have  a  more  fortunate  inheritance  than  he. 
But  these  very  limitations  may  become  a 
blessing.  Not  to  supplant  others  in  the 
strife  after  earthly  position  or  possessions 
but  to  gain  the  spiritual  power  to  turn  the 
limitations,  which  defeat,  into  the  instru- 
ments of  heavenly  blessing,  makes  one  a 
prince  with  God.  Limitations  are  often  the 
conditions  of  the  birth  of  character.  To 
recognize  these  conditions,  and  to  seek  the 
divine  blessing  from  them,  is  to  turn  the 
painful  night  of  wrestling  into  the  bright 
morning  of  Peniel. 

At  times  there  come  into  life  experiences 
which  render  the  whole  world  dark.  Some 
overwhelming  calamity  brings  to  the  heart 
a  darkness  which  may  be  felt ;  some  crush- 
ing bereavement  gives  it  a  pain  that  seems 
unbearable.  Life  seemed  to  be  made  for 


120  HOW    JACOB   BECAME   ISRAEL 

love,  and,  that  the  loved  one  should  be 
snatched  from  our  embrace,  appears  to  be  an 
irreparable  and  an  inexplicable  calamity. 
If  the  meaning  of  it,  and  the  blessing  in  it, 
be  sought,  even  such  an  experience  will 
prove  a  source  of  blessing.  Love,  which 
simply  dotes  and  enjoys,  has  never  sounded 
the  profound  depths  of  loving ;  it  plays 
upon  the  surface. 

' '  The  heart  must  bleed  before  it  feels, 
The  pool  be  troubled  before  it  heals," 

and  as  the  sorrow  is  seen  to  be  God's  will 
and  is  accepted  as  such,  the  lineaments  of 
the  Father's  face  begin  to  shine  through  the 
darkness,  the  Father's  peace  spreads  over 
the  heart,  and  the  life,  though  scarred  and 
maimed,  enters  upon  a  new  plane  of  happi- 
ness and  felicity  on  the  plains  of  Peniel. 
Often  in  the  present  age  our  hurter  comes 
in  the  form  of  a  hard  despair,  which  arises 
in  our  night  of  doubt.  Old  conceptions  of 
how  God  created  the  world  have  been  taken 
away ;  our  former  conception  of  how  He 
caused  the  Bible  to  be  written  is  snatched 
from  us ;  or  some  other  cause  compels  a 
growing  mind  to  abandon  something  of  its 


HOW   JACOB   BECAME   ISRAEL  121 

childhood's  faith,  and,  in  the  darkness  which 
succeeds,  that  soul  seems  to  be  maimed  for 
life.  Not  so  need  it  be.  Even  doubt  may 
be  but  the  gateway  to  larger  faith.  If  the 
spirit,  which  animated  Jacob  in  his  night  of 
wrestling  but  animate  us,  and  we  seek  the 
meaning  of  the  painful  experience,  we  shall 
find  that  that,  which  seems  to  be  aimed  at 
the  symmetry,  if  not  the  life  of  our  faith, 
will,  when  manfully  faced  and  struggled 
with,  lead  to  better  faith,  to  loftier  spiritu- 
ality, and  to  clearer  vision  of  God. 

The  lesson  of  this  story  of  Jacob  is,  then,  to 
bear  manfully  life's  limitations  and  hard- 
ships, to  seek  their  divine  meaning,  to  com- 
mune with  God  in  the  midst  of  them,  and 
thus  in  character  and  bearing  to  become 
God's  prince.  At  the  centre  of  the  universe 
beats  a  Heart  of  Love.  The  blows,  which 
fall  upon  us  in  life,  are  those  by  which  He 
would  chisel  our  characters  into  His  own 
image. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

JOSEPH. 

14  They  forced  his  feet  into  fetters.     Into  iron  came 
his  soul."    Ps.  cv,  13. 

"  O  Will,  that  wiliest  good  alone, 

Lead  Thou  the  way,  Thou  guidest  best ; 
A  silent  child,  I  follow  on, 

And  trusting  lean  upon  Thy  breast. 
And  if  in  gloom  I  see  Thee  not, 

I  lean  upon  Thy  love  unknown  ; 
In  me  Thy  blessed  will  is  wrought, 
If  I  will  nothing  of  my  own." 

—  Tersteegen. 

AMONG  the  stories  of  the  patriarchs  that 
of  Joseph  J  exemplifies  silent,  unselfish  suf- 
fering for  others.  As  a  youth  the  unmerited 
envy  of  his  brethren  secured  his  expatria- 
tion and  enslavement ;  as  a  slave,  faithful 
in  all  things  to  his  master's  interests,  the 
unholy  love  and  the  heartless  accusations  of 
his  mistress  accomplished  his  imprisonment ; 
as  a  prisoner  he  was  forgotten  by  one  whom 
he  had  cheered  and  helped,  and  so  was  left 
to  languish  in  fetters  for  weary  months.  But 


1  For  critical  and  historical  discussions  of  the  Joseph  narratives 
see  the  articles  "  Joseph  "  in  Hasting's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible  and 
the  Encyclopedia  Biblica. 

122 


JOSEPH  123 

his  spirit  kept  sweet  and  true,  and  the  time 
came  at  last  when  the  great  work,  for  whicli 
all  these  years  of  endurance  had  been  pre- 
paring him,  was  ready  for  his  guiding  hand, 
and  then  his  hand  and  head  and  heart  were 
found  ready  for  his  lofty  task. 

The  story  of  Joseph  is  first  of  all  a  para- 
ble of  the  way  to  bear  adversity.  Trouble 
often  comes  upon  us  through  our  own 
incompetence  or  negligence ;  of  such  trou- 
bles we  have  no  right  to  complain.  But  in 
this  world  the  faithful  heart,  the  unselfish 
spirit,  and  the  sweet-tempered  life  are  no 
guarantee  against  adversity.  Slander,  envy, 
and  self-seeking  will  surge  around  such  a 
life  and  will  give  it  keenest  pain.  So  ac- 
cording to  the  accounts  in  Genesis,  was  it 
with  Joseph.  As  the  Psalm  forcibly  puts 
it,  "  into  iron  came  his  soul,"  *  a  phrase 
which  is  strikingly  like  ours :  "  the  iron 
entered  his  soul."  It  suggests  to  the  Eng- 
lish reader  the  keenness  of  the  sufferings  of  a 
sensitive  spirit,  its  gloom,  and  its  temptations 
to  despair.  Joseph  is  pictured  as  bearing 


1  The  English  suggests  this  more  strongly  than  the  Hebrew.   In  the 
latter  language  the  word  for  "soul"  is  used  in  the  sense  of "  self.' 


124  JOSEPH 

all  most  heroically  and  with  undaunted 
faith.  He  was  always  cheerful,  and  always 
ready  to  be  of  service  to  those  about  him. 
In  the  end,  too,  it  appeared  to  all  that  these 
sufferings  had  been,  in  the  ordering  of  a 
wise  Providence,  the  preparation  of  the  man 
for  a  high  destiny,  and  for  a  lofty  service  to 
two  important  nations.  Without  the  chain 
of  misfortunes  he  would  neither  have  been 
at  the  point  where  he  could  be  of  service, 
nor  qualified  by  experience  to  undertake  his 
gigantic  labors. 

As  the  foundations  of  a  lofty  building 
must  be  laid  far  under  the  ground,  so  the 
preparation  for  the  noblest  work  of  man 
must  be  laid  in  humbling  and  painful  expe- 
riences. Happy  those  who  learn  with  Paul 
to  rejoice  in  tribulation,  that  thus  they  may 
learn  to  comfort  others  with  the  comfort 
with  which  they  themselves  have  been  com- 
forted of  God.  1 

In  the  character  of  Joseph,  too,  we  have 
pictured  many  of  those  traits  which  shine 
out  so  brilliantly  in  Jesus  Christ.  Truly 
Joseph  may  be  said  to  be  a  type  of  Christ 

»  See  2  Cor.  1,4. 


JOSEPH  125 

The  Master's  purity  and  unselfishness,  His 
readiness  to  serve,  the  envy  and  hatred  which 
burned  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  should 
have  welcomed  Him  and  which  hounded 
Him  to  His  death,  His  uniform  kindliness 
even  to  His  enemies,  and  His  conquest  of 
those  enemies  by  the  power  of  love, — all 
find  exemplification  in  the  Old  Testament 
picture  of  Joseph.  Though  these  awaited 
their  full  manifestation  till  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  the  story  of  the  life  of 
Joseph,  fondly  repeated  or  read  from  gener- 
ation to  generation,  was  preparing  the  world 
for  His  advent,  and  for  His  matchless  work. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

MOSES. 

"  Moses  .  .  .  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pha- 
raoh's daughter,  choosing  rather  to  share  ill  treat- 
ment with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season."  Heb.  xi,  24,  25. 

"  Faith's  meanest  deed  more  favor  bears 
Where  hearts  and  wills  are  weighed, 
Than  brightest  transports,  choicest  prayers, 
Which  bloom  their  hour  and  fade." 

—J.  H,  Newman. 

THE  life  of  Moses  as  portrayed  in  the  Old 
Testament l  presents  some  important  paral- 
lels to  the  life  of  Joseph,  and  affords  similar 
suggestions  ;  but  it  has  also  important  feat- 
ures of  its  own.  Moses,  like  Joseph,  suf- 
fered exile,  but  unlike  Joseph  his  exile  was 
voluntary.  It  is  a  noble  thing  to  bear  un- 
complainingly crosses  which  come  to  us  un- 
bidden, but  it  is  even  nobler  to  deliberately 
choose  the  unpopular  path  from  principle, 
knowing  well  the  meaning  of  that  pleasure 
and  luxury  upon  which  one  turns  his  back. 

1  For  historical  discussions  of  the  work  of  Moses  see  the  article 
"  Moses"  in  Hastings  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Budde's  Religion 
of  Israel  to  the  Exile,  ch.  i,  and  the  writer's  Semitic  Origins,  pp. 
267-296.  The  religious  lesson  of  the  narratives  is  quite  independent 
of  such  discussion. 

126 


MOSES  127 

This  was  the  merit  which  the  author  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  saw  in  the  flight  of 
Moses  from  Egypt,  and  the  author  of  that 
Epistle  was  right. 

Like  Joseph,  Moses,  we  are  told,  spent 
years  in  solitude,  but  it  was  in  some  ways  a 
less  trying  solitude.  The  open  air  of  heaven 
and  the  companionship  of  flocks  are  less  try- 
ing than  the  hard  lot  of  the  slave,  or  the 
stifling  atmosphere  of  the  dungeon.  As 
Moses  led  his  flocks  about,  he  came  to  the 
mount  where  Jehovah  was  thought  to  dwell,1 
and  received  a  revelation  from  Him.  The 
highest  spiritual  experiences  and  the  new 
visions  of  God  ever  come  to  those  who,  like 
Moses,  turn  their  backs  upon  selfish  ease, 
and  take  the  rugged  pathway  of  duty,  even 
though  that  pathway  leads  to  exile  and  to 
solitude.  Moses's  new  vision  of  God  gave 
him  new  hope  for  Israel.  He  saw  that  a 
new  religion  was  possible  for  her,  and  that 
through  the  faith  of  that  new  religion  a  new 
national  life  would  become  hers.  The  vision 
burned  itself  upon  his  heart ;  it  amounted 
to  a  call  to  go  and  inaugurate  the  new  era 

1  Compare  the  statement  on  this  point  in  cbap.  xxiii. 


128  MOSES 

of  which  he  had.  had  a  glimpse ;  he  hesi- 
tated, but  at  last  yielded ;  and  forth  from 
the  retirement  of  the  wilderness  came  the 
diffident,  but  mighty  champion  of  the  op- 
pressed, the  herald  of  a  new  religious  era. 
The  right  and  pure  choice  of  Moses  as  a 
young  man,  his  fidelity  in  solitude,  the  mys- 
tic unfolding  of  truth  which  came  to  him 
there,  and  his  obedience  to  the  heavenly 
vision,  are  all  most  suggestive  of  helpful 
guidance  to  those  in  any  age  who  come  to 
the  parting  of  the  ways  in  life. 

Moses  mediated  the  covenant  between 
God  and  Israel.  That  covenant  was  after- 
ward interpreted  in  different  ways  by  differ- 
ent individuals,  but  the  fact  of  the  covenant 
is  one  of  the  epoch-making  facts  in  the  re- 
ligious history  of  the  world.  Next  to  the 
New  Covenant  established  by  Christ  it  has 
been  most  influential  upon  the  highest  des- 
tinies of  man.  Little  did  the  youth  who  fled 
from  Egypt,  because  he  chose  to  share  the 
ill-treatment  of  the  people  of  God,  dream  of 
the  noble  mission  to  which  the  path  of  self- 
denial  would  lead.  At  the  end  of  the  path 
he  found  the  privilege  of  talking  with  God 
"face  to  face,"  and  of  working  with  God  to 
uplift  the  world  for  all  time.  The  way  of 


MOSES  129 

the  cross  still  leads  to  mystic  communion 
with  God,  and  to  similar,  though  perhaps 
less  conspicuous  service. 

Not  as  the  mediator  of  a  covenant  only, 
but  also  in  the  manner  in  which  he  repelled 
a  temptation  to  self-aggrandizement,1  is 
Moses  a  type  of  Christ.  In  both  these  ways 
he  is  represented  as  exhibiting  something 
of  the  same  virtues  which  were  so  conspicu- 
ous in  the  Master.  Once,  we  are  told,  when 
Jehovah  was  exceedingly  angry  with  Israel, 
He  proposed  to  destroy  the  people  and  to 
make  of  Moses  a  great  nation.  No  passage 
in  the  Old  Testament  breathes  a  more  beau- 
tiful spirit  than  the  intercessory  prayer, 
'In  which  Moses  pleaded  for  the  pardon  of  the 
offenders.  He  could  not  bear  to  think  of 
the  destruction  of  those  for  whom  he  had 
labored,  notwithstanding  their  ingratitude 
and  rebellion,  even  when  that  destruction 
meant  his  own  aggrandizement.  It  is 
through  such  spirits  as  these  that  God  is 
revealed  to  the  world.  Christ  is  the  Chief 
and  the  Master  of  them  all,  but  of  that  num- 
ber we  may  be,  if  we  will. 
» 

1  Tke  analogy  suggested  Is  with  Christ's  temptation  to  secure  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  PASSAGE  OF  THE  RED  SEA. 

"  I  will  sing  unto  Jehovah  for  He  hath  triumphed 

gloriously  : 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into  the 

sea."    Exodus  xv,  1. 

"The  sea  saw  it,  and  fled  ; 
The  Jordan  was  driven  back. 
The  mountains  skipped  like  rams, 
The  little  hills  like  lambs." 

—  Ps. 


THE  exodus  from  Egypt  was  the  first 
great  deliverance  which  Jehovah  wrought 
for  Israel.  It  was  a  deliverance  of  such  a 
vital  character,  and  was  so  signally  accom- 
plished, that  it  was  ever  treasured  in  the" 
memory  of  the  nation.  It  was  more  than  a 
turning  point  in  their  history  ;  it  was  a  per- 
petual monument  of  the  power  and  the 
goodness  of  their  God,  and,  as  centuries 
passed  and  national  misfortunes  multiplied, 
the  memory  of  the  people  turned  to  this 
great  event  with  ever  increasing  wonder 
and  thanksgiving.  Psalmists  celebrated 
it,1  and  the  collectors  of  tradition  fondly 
preserved  its  memory. 

LJ_  4 

'See  Psalms  Ixvi,  6  ;  Ixzviii,  53  ;  cxir,  3,  4. 
130 


THfi   PASSAGE   OF   THE   RED   SEA        131 

Three  different  traditions  of  it  are  now 
woven  together  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of 
our  book  of  Exodus.1  In  the  oldest  and 
most  accurate  of  these,  there  is  a  remark- 
able conception  of  nature,  and  of  Jehovah's 
relation  to  nature,  which  not  only  explains 
the  event  itself,  but  points  an  important 
lesson  to  the  men  of  the  present  generation. 
This  writer  tells  us  that  "  Jehovah  caused 
the  sea  to  go  back  by  a  strong  east  wind  all 
that  night,  and  made  the  sea  dry  land."8 
Their  God  controlled  the  winds,  through 
those  He  controlled  the  sea,  and  made  a 
way  of  escape  for  His  despairing  people. 

Later  poets  connected  this  event  with  the 
crossing  of  the  Jordan,  because  of  the  simil- 
arity of  the  two  occurrences,  and  sang  of 
them  together.  It  is  probable  that  the 
stopping  of  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  was  due 
to  a  landslide  such  as  the  Arabs  tell  us, 
occurred  in  the  year  1266  A.  D.,  which 
stopped  the  water  and  gave  them  an  oppor- 
tunity to  build  a  bridge.  The  river  was  at 
flood  and  the  high  water  had  rendered  their 


'See  Carpenter  and  Harford-Battersby's  Hexaleuch,  Vol.  II,  p. 
100  ff.,  and  Bacon's  Triple  Tradition  of  the  Exodus,  pp.  71-72. 
8  Exodus  xiv,  21. 


132    THE  PASSAGE  OF  THE  RED  SEA 

work  impossible.1  Such  an  event,  like  the 
driving  back  of  the  water  by  the  wind,  would 
seem  to  the  Hebrews  an  interposition  of 
their  God.  They  saw  God  in  everything. 
No  opportune  event,  they  thought,  could 
aid  His  people  without  His  will,  and  in  this 
they  were  right.  His  wind  had  driven  back 
the  Red  Sea  for  their  deliverance ;  He  had 
stopped  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  that  they 
might  enter  into  the  land  of  promise.  It  is 
little  wonder  that  in  the  later  generations 
the  agencies  which  He  had  employed  were 
forgotten,  or  were  believed  to  have  been 
priestly  implements.  The  fact  of  His  de- 
liverance was,  nevertheless,  most  gratefully 
remembered. 

"  What  ailed  thee,  O  thou  sea,  that  thou  fledest? 
Thou  Jordan,  that  thou  turnedst  back?" 

gleefully  exclaimed  the  psalmist,  confident 
that  but  one  answer  could  be  given  :  "  God 
was  aiding  His  chosen  ones." 

The  suggestions  of  these  Old  Testament 
narratives  are  obvious.  God,  our  Father, 
controls  His  world  ;  we  are  His  children. 
Life  is  a  continuous  miracle.  Though  we 

lSee  the  Arabic  text  and  translation  in  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund'i  Quarterly  Statement,  lot  July  1895,  pp.  253-261. 


THE    PASSAGE    OF   THE   BED   SEA        133 

live  in  an  age  when  the  processes  of  nature 
are  understood  as  never  before,  these  pro- 
cesses are  but  God's  way  of  working.  No 
complex  accumulation  of  difficulties  can 
surround  us,  except  by  His  will  or  permis- 
sion ;  no  pain  can  come  to  us  without  Him, 
even  through  the  agency  of  one  of  His  rebel- 
lious children  ;  we  should  accept  all  as  His 
ordering,  look  for  the  lesson  He  would  teach 
us  in  it,  and  await  the  deliverance  which 
He  wills,  whether  it  be  the  deliverance  of 
relief  from  suffering,  or  the  impartation  of 
strength  to  endure.  "  Heaviness  may  en- 
dure for  a  night,  but  joy  will  come  in  the 
morning."  As  our  difficulties  disappear 
and  the  goodness  of  God  brings  joy  to  the 
heart,  we  shall  be  able  to  join  in  Miriam's 
pean  of  triumph : 

"  I  will  sing  unto  Jehovah  for  He  hath  triumphed 

gloriously : 
The  horse  and  his  rider  He  hath  thrown  into  the 

sea." 

If,  as  our  Christian  experience  advances, 
the  deliverance  be,  like  the  crossing  of  the 
Jordan,  not  so  much  relief  from  danger  as 
the  gift  of  liberty  to  labor  or  to  enter  into  a 
fuller  life,  the  thanksgiving  will  be  as  spon- 
taneous and  the  joy  as  real. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

JOSHUA. 

"  Only  be  strong  and  very  courageous."  Joshua  i,  7. 

"  Foremost  captain  of  his  time, 
Rich  in  saving  common  sense, 
And,  as  the  greatest  only  are, 
In  his  simplicity  sublime." 

—  Tennyson. 

THE  character  and  career  of  Joshua,  as 
they  are  pictured  to  us  iii  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, *  give  forcible  expression  to  the  dig- 
nity of  simple  manhood  and  the  dynamic 
force  of  faith  and  courage.  From  the  time 
when  he  appears  in  the  narrative  as  Israel's 
captain  and  Moses'  minister,  up  to  the  final 
farewell,  when,  having  as  we  are  told  2  con- 
quered the  land  for  Israel,  he  laid  down  the 
burdens  of  life,  having  pledged  his  house  to 
serve  the  Lord,  the  dominant  note  of  his 
career  was  faith,  and  its  prevailing  atmos- 
phere the  courage  which  springs  from  faith. 
As  a  spy,  he  believed  that  Israel  could  take 


1  For  critical  and  historical  discussions  see  the  articles  "  Joshua  " 
in  Hastings's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible  and  the  Encyclopedia 
Biblica.  *  Judges  I  gives  a  different  account  of  the  conquest 
which  does  not  attribute  it  to  Joshua. 

134 


JOSHUA  135 

the  land ;  as  a  general,  his  courageous  strat- 
egy made  the  conquest  of  impregnable  for- 
tresses like  Jericho  l  and  Ai  possible  even 
by  his  smaller  forces  ;  as  a  moral  leader,  he 
would  yield  to  no  temptations  to  gain  illicit 
wealth  ;  as  an  impartial  ruler,  he  is  repre- 
sented as  justly  dividing  the  land. 

The  life  of  faith  and  courage  was  not, 
however,  necessarily  free  from  error.  What 
life  is  ?  Acting  too  hastily  he  made  his 
league  with  the  Gibeonites,  2 — an  act  which, 
we  are  told,  long  crippled  his  people.  One  or 
two  mistakes  cannot  ruin  a  life  of  faith.  If 
the  persistent  attitude  of  the  heart  is  right, 
and  its  needle  points  faithfully  to  the  polestar 
of  the  moral  and  spiritual  world,  its  victo- 
ries are  sure.  So  it  was  with  Joshua.  An  old 
Hebrew  poet,  a  bit  of  whose  song  was  copied 
from  the  lost  book  of  Jashar  into  our  book 
of  Joshua,  so  strongly  believed  that  heaven 
itself  was  interested  in  the  struggles  of  this 
noble,  manly  life,  that  he  represents  in  poet- 
ical hyperbole  the  sun  as  standing  still  to 
watch  and  aid  his  victories,  for  he  sings  : 

1  The  oldest  narrative,  which  is  now  embedded  in  Joshua  vi,  so 
represents  it.  See  Carpenter  and  Harford-Battersby's  Hexateuch. 
Vol.  II,  pp.  328-330,  and  Joshua  in  the  Polychrome  Bible,  pp.  8, 9, 
1  See  Joshua  ix.  3  ff. 


136  JOSHUA 

"  And  the  sun  stood  stilft  and  the  moon  stayed.1" 

The  conquest  which  Joshua  made  is 
suggestive  of  that  which  may  be  made  by 
every  man  of  faith.  Life  lies  before  him 
as  a  promised  land.  Its  physical  frame  and 
earthly  environment  are  the  rich  valleys 
which  are  capable  of  bearing  plentiful  har- 
vests; its  mental  and  moral  powers  the 
mountain  peaks  which  are  capable  of  bear- 
ing upon  their  sides  the  exhilarating  vine, 
and  of  affording  from  their  summits  broad 
prospects  and  inspiring  visions.  These  are 
at  the  beginning  of  life  under  the  sway  of 
the  selfish  propensities  inherited  from  the 
past  and  bound  up  in  the  bodily  frame. 
The  work  of  life  consists  in  bringing  this 
land  of  promise  into  subjection  to  the  High- 
est, so  that  the  harvests  of  its  valleys  and 
the  inspiring  vintage  of  its  hills  shall  sup- 
port the  unselfish  life  of  the  ideal  Christian 
disciple.  At  times  it  is  an  arduous  work. 
The  enemy  often  seems  to  have  all  the  ad- 
vantage ;  but  faith,  courage,  and  persistence 
in  the  right  way  may  bring  the  victory  in  the 
end.  The  conquest  is  not  completed  in  a 

1  See  Joshua  z,  13. 


JOSHUA  137 

moment ;  it  is  the  work  of  years.  Here 
and  there  in  life's  mazes  one  makes  an  alli- 
ance with  an  appetite  or  a  propensity  to 
which  he  should  give  no  quarter ;  but  if  the 
heart  is  right,  such  errors  will  be  ascertained 
and  corrected.  "  If  in  any  respect  you  take 
a  mistaken  view,  God  will  make  that  also 
plain  to  you.  Only  we  must  order  our  lives 
by  the  standard  which  we  have  already 
reached."  1  The  Father  in  heaven  watches 
over  such  a  life  and  will  faithfully  reward 
its  faith  and  courage.  Its  victory  is  sure. 


1  Phil,  iii,  15, 16,  as  rendered  in  i\MTwentieth  Century  JVew  Test- 
ament- 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

DEBORAH. 

"  I  Deborah  arose, 
I  arose  a  mother  in  Israel." 

Judges  v,  7. 

"Maiden,  when  such  a  soul  as  thine  is  born, 
The  morning  stars  their  ancient  music  make." 

— Lowell. 

THE  poem  which  constitutes  the  fifth 
chapter  of  the  book  of  Judges  is  thought  by 
many  to  be  the  oldest  poem  in  our  Bibles. 
It  is  one  of  the  purest  and  strongest  bits  of 
Hebrew  verse.  It  is  the  poem  of  women.  It 
celebrates  a  victory  accomplished  by  women, 
and  toward  the  end  pathetically  pictures  the 
sorrows  of  a  woman.  Deborah  inspired 
Israel's  general ;  it  was  her  prophetic  voice 
which  called  the  disunited  tribes  together, 
and  welded  them  into  an  effective  force.  It 
was  Jael  who,  when  the  hated  oppressor  fled 
from  the  victorious  army,  delivered  her  peo- 
ple by  taking  his  life.  It  was  a  hard  and 
savage  deed,  but  we  must  not  forget  that  it 
was  a  hard  and  savage  age.  It  was  a  deed 
which  appealed  to  her  compatriots,  and 

138 


DEBOKAH  139 

secured  for  her  a  place  in  this  immortal 
song.  When  all  was  over  and  the  poet  had 
told  his  tale,  it  was  to  the  mother  of  Sisera 
that  the  reader's  thought  was  directed.  As 
women  were  the  inspiration  and  the 
achievers  of  the  action,  so  its  blow  fell 
heaviest  on  a  woman. 

This  poem  records  an  incident  in  an 
epoch  when  Semitic  women  held  an  impor- 
tant place  in  the  social  and  political  econ- 
omy of  the  time.1  From  that  place  the  social 
forces  which  made  polygamy  possible  thrust 
woman  so  long  ago,  that  it  is  hard  for  us  to 
realize  that  she  ever  held  it,  and  yet  it  is 
true.  The  civilization  of  that  time  was 
crude,  and  the  women  which  it  produced, 
like  the  men  of  their  time,  would  not  appear 
attractive  to-day,  but,  like  so  many  of  the 
institutions  of  that  early  age,  the  position 
accorded  to  women  then  was  in  germ  a 
promise  of  the  destiny  to  which  Christian 
civilization  would  call  them. 

The  place  given  to  women  in  the  friend- 
ships of  Christ,  and  the  part  accorded  them 
as  the  first  heralds  of  the  resurrection,  have 

1  See  the  writer's  Semitic  Origins,  \>\>,  53-57. 


140  DEBORAH 

often  been  noted.  The  spirit  and  genius  of 
Christianity  as  well  as  the  action  of  the 
Master  gave  them  an  equal  place  with  their 
brethren.  Paul  declared  that  sex  has  no 
place  in  Christianity,1  and  tacitly  took  it  for 
granted  that  women  had  the  same  gifts  for 
spiritual  service  as  men.8  The  effort  of  one 
of  his  followers  to  prevent  untrained  women 
from  making  undignified  interruptions  of 
the  religious  exercises  of  the  church,3  were 
afterwards  misinterpreted  so  as  to  deprive 
them  of  all  right  to  public  service. 

The  Society  of  Friends  were  the  first  to 
return  to  the  Christian  basis  of  equality  in 
all  things.  With  them  women  have  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  enjoyed  the  same 
spiritual  privileges,  and  engaged  in  the  same 
spiritual  duties  as  men.  Their  ministry  has 
gained  thereby,  and  into  their  religious  life 
there  has  come  a  strain  of  purity,  tenderness, 
and  of  lofty  spirituality,  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  impossible.  Others  are  now 
realizing  the  justice  of  this,  and  are  gradu- 
ally striving  to  accomplish  in  the  life  of  their 


1  Gal.  iii.  28.      *  1  Cor.  xi,  1-16     3 1  Tim.  ii,  1-15.     The  opinion  is 
now  prevailing  that  Paul  did  not  write  this  epistle. 


DEBORAH  141 

organized  Christianity  this  simple  Christian 
justice. 

It  may  seem  strange  in  this  age  of  the 
"  emancipation  of  woman  "  to  call  attention 
to  these  things,  for  there  are  those  who  fear 
that  we  are  returning  to  the  unwomanly 
type  of  women  of  the  days  of  Semitic  an- 
tiquity, rather  than  approaching  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  ideal  society  of  which  that 
antiquity  was  a  prophecy  in  germ.  Such  a 
result  we  need  not  fear. 

Woman,  freed  from  the  trammels  of  igno- 
rance and  the  limitations  of  artificial  reli- 
gious restraints,  will  bring  to  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  future  the  power  to  inspire  and 
to  achieve  which  Deborah  and  Jael  exhib- 
ited, at  the  same  time  that  she  forms  the 
centre  and  heart  of  the  home  and  feels,  as 
she  always  has  done,  like  the  mother  of 
Sisera,  the  keenest  of  the  family's  sorrows. 

Who  that  has  been  helped  in  his  faith  by 
the  sympathy  and  insight  of  a  Christian 
woman,  or  that  has  shared  the  comrade- 
ship of  a  noble  wife,  or  had  occasion  to 
treasure  the  memory  of  a  sainted  mother, 
could  fail  to  rejoice  at  the  coming  of  that 
time  when  every  woman  should  be  a 
"  mother  in  Israel?" 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

GIDEON. 

"  How  should  one  chase  a  thousand, 
And  two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight?" 

Deut.  xxxii,  36. 

"  To  do  is  to  succeed — our  fight 

Is  waged  in  Heaven's  approving  sight — 

The  smile  of  God  is  victory." 

—  Whittier. 

THE  story  of  Gideon  is  a  good  example  of 
the  victories  which  may,  with  the  divine 
blessing,  be  won  by  insignificant  instru- 
ments. Gideon  belonged  to  one  of  the  lesser 
tribes  ;  his  clan  was  one  of  the  least  signifi- 
cant in  the  tribe  ;  he  the  least  of  his  family. 
In  hordes  the  Midianites  were  pouring  down 
on  the  land ;  the  force  which  Gideon  could 
muster  against  them  was  comparatively 
small ;  but  with  faith  and  courage  combined 
with  consecrated  skill  he  won,  even  with 
this  force,  a  victory  which  set  his  people 
free  from  the  marauding  invaders. 

Indeed,  this  lesson  was  so  impressed  upon 
Israel  in  later  times  that  some  of  the  tra- 
ditions concerning  the  matter  represented 

142 


GIDEON  143 

Gideon's  army  as  having  been  artificially 
reduced  so  as  to  purposely  make  it  small. 
This  shows  that,  to  the  ancient  Hebrews  as 
to  us,  the  religious  point  of  the  story  was 
that,  where  there  resides  in  human  breasts 
a  high  courage  born  of  faith,  God  can  do 
great  things  with  feeble  instruments  or  with 
obscure  persons. 

The  victory  won  by  Gideon  was  so  notable 
that  it  was  long  remembered  as  a  day  of 
marvellous  slaughter  of  Israel's  enemies. 
Isaiah  twice  refers  to  it,1  and  of  it  the  author 
of  the  eighty-third  psalm  sang.8  Like  some 
notable  historic  events  of  recent  years,  dif- 
ferent traditions  existed  concerning  it,  and 
different  versions  of  its  details  were  current. 
According  to  one  of  these3  the  slaughter 
took  place  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  and 
the  names  of  the  Midianite  chieftains  were 
Zebah  and  Zalmunna  ;  according  to  another 
it  occurred  on  the  west  of  the  Jordan,  and 
their  names  were  Oreb  and  Zeeb. 4  Although 
the  traditions  varied,  and  though  in  later 
times  its  salient  points  were  somewhat 

'Isa.  ix,  4  and  x,  26.  "Ps  Ixxxiii,  11.  "Judges  viii,  4-9.  *Judgcs 
Til,  22-35.  See  Moore's  Judges  in  the  Polychrome  Bible,  and  his 
Judges  in  International  Crit.  Com.  pp.  204-223. 


144  GIDEON 

heightened,  the  event  itself  is  one  of  the 
sure  events  of  Israelitish  history,  and  the 
lesson  pointed  by  it  has  been  recognized 
from  the  earliest  times. 

Visions  of  God  come  to  all.  They  come 
in  the  form  of  illuminations  of  conscience, 
calling  to  victory  over  some  little  sin  or 
weakness  and  pointing  out  the  way  to  a 
strong  and  noble  life ;  they  come  in  the 
form  of  impulses  to  generous  helpfulness  to 
others,  indicating  the  way  to  a  life  of  benefi- 
cent service.  The  private  sin  which  is 
thus  condemned,  or  the  service  for  others 
which  is  made  possible,  often  seems  so  small 
that  it  does  not  seem  worth  while  to  apply 
ourselves  to  it,  and  thus  the  opportunity  for 
blessing  passes.  Often,  too,  the  noble  life 
and  the  helpful  service  seem  utterly  beyond 
us.  So  conscious  of  our  weakness  are  we 
that  either  to  be  or  to  do  that  which  the 
vision  calls  for  is,  we  are  sure,  a  task  too 
arduous.  The  story  of  Gideon  is  an  his- 
torical parable  summoning  us  to  faithful 
endeavor  with  surety  of  victory.  The  great 
heroes  of  faith — Paul,  Martin  Luther,  George 
Fox,  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  many  others — 


GIDEON  145 

were  simple  men  ;  they  had  strong  faith  in 
God  and  courage  to  do  the  next  duty,  so  like 
Gideon  they  put  to  flight  the  hosts  of  dark- 
ness. Such  is  the  work  which  will  ever  be 
accomplished  by  those  of  like  faith. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

SAMSON. 

"  The  child  shall  be  a  Nazarite  unto  God." 
Judges  xiii,  7. 

"  O  dark,  dark,  dark,  amid  the  blaze  of  noon, 
Irrevocably  dark,  total  eclipse 
Without  all  hope  of  day  ! 
O  first  created  beam,  and  thou  great  Word, 
Let  there  be  light,  and  light  was  over  all ; 
Why  am  I  thus  bereaved  thy  prime  decree?  " 

—Milton, 

To  the  devotional  student  no  character  is 
more  puzzling  than  Samson.  One  is  tempted 
to  wonder  why  he  is  in  the  Bible.  He  was 
apparently  without  religious  sensibilities  as 
we  understand  them,  and,  as  Professor  Toy 
has  said,  he  was  a  moral  idiot.  Some  have 
doubted  his  historical  character  and  endeav- 
ored to  regard  him  as  a  sun-myth.1  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  there  was  such  a 
person  as  Samson,  though  it  may  be  that  be- 
fore the  stories  concerning  him  were  written 
down  they  had  acquired  some  additional 
elements  in  passing  from  mouth  to  mouth. 

1  See  the  discussion  in  Moore'i  Judeet  In  Inter .  Crtt.  Com.,  pp 
364,866. 

146 


SAMSON  147 

Deeper  reflection  soon  discovers  that  the 
story  of  Samson  is  a  parable  of  the  way  in 
which  the  noblest  opportunities  of  birth  and 
the  largest  endowment  of  personal  power 
may  be  prostituted,  and  how  accordingly  a 
life  which  begins  with  the  fairest  prospects 
may  end  in  the  deepest  gloom.  The  age  in 
which  the  life  of  Samson  was  lived  was  one 
of  the  darkest  and  least  civilized  in  the  his- 
tory of  Israel.  The  story  of  his  life  partakes 
of  the  rough  and  unmoral  character  of  the 
times.  Some  of  its  features,  too,  which 
seem  to  us  immoral  are  but  parts  of  a  once 
extensive,1  but  now  obsolete,  social  order. 
But  in  the  light  of  whatever  age  we  look 
upon  Samson,  he  holds  before  us  a  warn- 
ing as  an  impressive  example  of  the  dark 
end  which  awaits  those  who  devote  to  sel- 
fish ends  bright  talents  and  golden  oppor- 
tunities. Endowed  beyond  his  fellows  with 
all  that  his  age  considered  desirable,  he 
devoted  his  life  to  the  pleasures  of  appetite 
and  passion.  Those  pleasures  led  then,  as 
now,  to  slavery  and  to  blindness.  Milton 
makes  Samson  describe  most  accurately  the 

1  Swth*  wrtt«r't  Stmitic  Origins,  cli.  11,  wp_p.  60. 


148  SAMSON 

moral  condition  which  comes  from  such  a 
course : 

"  Myself  my  sepulchre,  a  moving  grave." 

Such  was  the  end  of  this  marvellously 
gifted  man.  Angelic  words  had  heralded 
his  birth  and  pointed  to  a  high  destiny  for 
him.  He  had  been  the  recipient,  as  his 
compatriots  believed,  of  a  genuine  inspira- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  God  to  enable  him  to 
accomplish  wondrous  deeds  for  God  and  for 
Israel,  and  yet  his  end  found  him  : 

"  Eyeless  in  Gaza  at  the  mill  with  slaves," 

Two  sayings  of  the  apostle  Paul  are  point- 
edly illustrated  by  his  fate  :  "  If  ye  live 
after  the  flesh,  ye  shall  die,"  and  "  Let  him 
that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he 
fall." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

SAMUEL. 
"  A  little  child  shall  lead  them."    Isaiah  xi,  6. 

Ah !  well  may  sages  bow  to  thee, 
Dear,  loving,  guileless  Infancy  ! 

And  sigh  beside  their  lofty  lore 
For  one  untaught  delight  of  thine, 

And  feel  they'd  give  their  learning's  store 
To  know  again  thy  truth  divine." 

— Mrs.  Osgood. 

THE  story  of  Samuel  presents  a  striking 
and  pleasing  contrast  to  the  story  of  Sam- 
son. Like  Samson  he  was  a  child  of  prayer, 
but  unlike  him  the  promise  of  his  birth  and 
parentage  ended  in  light,  not  darkness. 

Hannah,  the  devout  mother  of  Samuel, 
consecrating  her  son  to  God  and  placing 
him  in  the  tender  years  of  childhood  in  the 
sacred  precincts  of  the  temple,  is  an  example 
to  the  parents  of  all  ages.  Now  that  we 
realize  that  the  temple  of  God  is  in  the 
heart,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  follow  her  example, 
but  the  great  ideal  for  which  her  example 
stands  should  appeal  strongly  to  every 
parent. 

149 


150  SAMUEL 

The  little  Samuel,  too,  dwelling  in  the 
temple  of  Jehovah,  sleeping  in  its  holy  of 
holies,1  hearing,  heeding,  and  obeying  the 
voice  of  God,  presents  an  ideal  of  the  reli- 
gious life  of  the  young  which  is  not  only 
attractive,  but  possible. 

"  Heaven  lies  about  us  iu  our  infancy." 
The  little  Samuel,  receiving  and  delivering 
his  prophetic  messages,  brings  to  our 
thoughts  that  other,  diviner  boy,  who  re- 
minded His  elders  that  He  must  be  occupied 
"  in  the  things  of  His  Father."* 

We  have  here  not  only  a  type  of  a  normal 
religious  childhood,  but  of  a  normal  religious 
life.  Jesus  said  :  "  Except  ye  turn,  and  be- 
come as  little  children,  ye  shall  in  no  wise 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  To 
have  the  teachable,  trustful  spirit  of  a  child, 
to  live  with  a  temple  of  God  about  us,  to 
hold  "  mystic,  sweet  communion "  with 
Him,  and  to  engage  in  His  service,  is  the 
normal  religious  life  for  all.  For  that  life 
the  story  of  Samuel  stands  as  an  object  lesson. 

'This  is  the  real  meaning  of  the  language  used.  He  was  not  in  a 
tabernacle,  but  a  temple,  (1  Sam.  iii,  3,  K.  V.),  which  had  doors, 
( v.  15) .  Samuel  slept  where  the  ark  of  God  was.  ( v .  3).  That  this 
was  contrary  to  the  Levitical  law  is  true,  but  that  law  was  un- 
known in  the  time  of  Samuel  'Luke  ii,  49. 


SAMUEL  161 

That  such  a  life  is  not  incompatible  with 
practical  service  to  one's  people  and  country, 
the  after  career  of  Samuel  abundantly 
testifies.  The  model  religious  boy  became 
the  faithful  judge,  and  the  far-seeing  states- 
man. On  him  his  nation  depended  in  the 
great  crises  of  its  fate.  Though  they  did 
not  always  heed  his  advice,  if  we  take  liter- 
ally the  accounts  which  have  come  down  to 
us,  his  influence,  nevertheless,  was  spread 
over  them  as  a  canopy  of  light,  illuminating 
them,  guiding  them,  and  elevating  them. 
Such  holy,  practical  men  are  the  hope  of  the 
nation, — the  salt  of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

SAUL. 
"To  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice."  1  Sam.  xv,  22. 

"  He  spoke  not,  but  slow 
Lifted  up  the  hand  slack  at  his  side,  till  he  laid  it 

with  care 
Soft  and  grave,  but  in  mild  settled  will,  on  my  brow  : 

through  my  hair 
The  large  fingers  were  pushed,  and  he  bent  back  my 

head,  with  kind  power — 
All  my  face  back,  intent  to   peruse  it,  as  men  do 

a  flower. 
Thus  held  he  me   there  with  his  great  eyes    that 

scrutinized  mine — 
And  oh,  all  my  heart  how  it  loved  him !  but  where 

was  the  sign  ? 
I  yearned — "  Could  I  help  thee,  my  father,  inventing 

a  bliss, 
I  would  add,  to  that  life  of  the  past,  both  the  future 

and  this ; 
I  would  give  thee  new  life  altogether,  as  good,  ages 

hence 
As  this  moment, — had  love  but  the  warrant,  love's 

heart  to  dispense !" 

— Robert  Browning  in  "  Saul." 

THE  story  of  Saul  impresses  the  reader 

with  the  same  perplexity  which  the  fate  of 

many  in  modern  times  brings  to  him.     The 

noble  young  giant  of  his  earlier  days,  who 

152 


SAUL  153 

could  inspire  his  warriors  and  deliver  the 
oppressed, — the  strong  statesman-king,  who 
could  weld  the  ever  disintegrating  tribes  of 
a  Semitic  federation  into  a  united  nation, 
fills  us  with  admiration.  Why,  then,  was 
his  the  dark  fate  which  met  him  on  Mount 
Gilboa,  when,  deserted  by  all  the  ordinary 
religious  guides  of  his  age,  he  hopelessly 
sought  the  shade  of  Samuel,  the  guide  of  his 
youth,  only  to  receive  a  cheerless  message 
of  coming  doom?  Probably  the  real  ex- 
planation is  that  upon  which  Browning  has 
based  the  plot  of  his  poem  "  Saul,"  i.  e.  Saul 
became  insane.  The  strange  moods  of  a 
lunatic,  especially  in  an  age  when  the  lunatic 
was  thought  to  be  possessed  of  an  evil 
spirit,  would  alienate  his  following  and 
bring  upon  him  his  pathetic  end.  But  even 
this  is  not  a  final  explanation.  "  Why," 
we  ask,  "  must  such  things  as  insanity  be  in 
our  Father's  world  to  blight  fair  and  noble 
lives ;  "  and  the  answer  is  not  yet  given ;  we 
can  only  trust,  believing  that  "  He  doeth  all 
things  well." 

Hebrew  historians  felt  the  weight  of  this 
problem  too.     It  seemed  necessary  to  them 


154  SAUL 

that  this  mystery  of  the  life  of  Saul  should 
be  explained.  One  of  their  number, — a 
man  endued  with  the  prophetic  spirit, — 
found  the  explanation  in  Saul's  disobedience. 
A  tradition  had  come  down  to  him,  that 
Saul  had  not  fully  obeyed  the  divine  direc- 
tions in  his  war  with  Amalek,  and  that  he 
had  thought,  as  so  many  others  have  done 
since,  to  buy  off  God  by  sacrifice.  The 
reply  of  Samuel,  which  this  tradition  con- 
tained, "  To  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice," 
deserves  to  ring  through  the  centuries.  The 
sin  attaching  to  ill-gotten  gain  is  not  atoned 
by  endowing  churches  or  colleges,  nor  the 
mockery  of  a  selfish,  worldly  life,  by  osten- 
tatious devotion  to  elaborate  ritual.  The 
blessings  of  the  Master,  and  the  knowledge 
of  His  mysteries  are  opened  only  to  those 
who  "  do  His  will,"  while  those  who  "  obey 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life." 

Browning,  in  his  beautiful  poem,  imagin- 
atively pictures  the  love  which  David  felt 
for  Saul,  and  hints  that  even  love  has  its 
limits  of  blessing.  God  seeks  to  redeem  the 
world  by  revealing  to  it  His  love.  That 
love,  as  manifested  in  Christ,  reaches  and 


SAUL  166 

changes  all  who  really  appreciate  it.  F6r 
those  who  are  insensible  to  its  real  purposes, 
as  the  insane  Saul  was  insensible  to  the  pur- 
poses of  David,  love, — even  God's  love, — 
can  do  nothing.  This  is  blasphemy  against 
the  Holy  Spirit, — the  one  unpardonable 
sin, — to  be  insensate  to  the  power  of  love 
and  light. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

JONATHAN. 

"  Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful, 
Passing  the  love  of  women," 

2  Sam.  i,  25. 

"  Angels  from  friendship  gather  half  their  joy." 

—  Young. 

THE  story  of  the  life  of  Jonathan,  the  son 
of  Saul  and  the  friend  of  David,  is  pathet- 
ically beautiful.  From  what  is  told  of  him 
in  the  Bible  he  appears  as  a  fine,  generous, 
brave  and  chivalrous  spirit,  upright  in  his 
bearing  toward  all,  gentle  and  beautiful  in 
character.  Such  a  prince  would  seem  to 
have  been  born  for  a  brilliant  career,  but 
the  melancholy  fortunes  of  the  house  of  Saul 
involved  him  also  in  its  ruin.  There  is  an 
indefinable  and  inspiring  charm  in  his  atti- 
tude toward  David.  Few  friendships  have 
been  more  true  and  strong  than  that  of  these 
two  men,  the  one  the  representative  of  a 
waning  dynasty,  the  other  the  founder  of 
future  power.  Both  were  characters  of  the 
highest  excellence  that  the  world  of  that 
period  knew.  Such  friendship  can  exist 

156 


JONATHAN  157 

only  between  noble  souls.  It  is  at  once  the 
finest  flower  of  social  intercourse,  and  one  of 
the  greatest  forces  to  elevate  and  develop  the 
spirit  and  character  of  man. 

When  the  divinest  Being  who  has  ever 
walked  our  planet  wished  to  express  the 
intimate  relationship  between  Him  and  His 
disciples  He  said :  "  I  have  called  you 
friends."1  Into  the  intimate  relationship  of 
love,  of  trust,  and  of  communion  He  invites 
the  Christian  to  enter.  In  that  commun- 
ion lies  our  one  hope  of  learning  clearly  the 
nature  of  God  and  the  real  meaning  of  life. 
The  Word  was  not  made  flesh  in  Jesus  to  con- 
ceal the  glory  of  God,  but  to  reveal  it.  "  All 
things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father  I  have 
made  known  unto  you,"  He  declared  ;  and 
again,  "  I  have  manifested  Thy  name  unto 
the  men  whom  Thou  gavest  Me."  Thus 
He  offers  to  us  all  the  privileges  of  that 
friendship  which  has  power  to  unveil  the 
heart  of  God,  purify,  quicken,  and  inspire, 
until  it  transforms  us  into  the  divine  image. 

In  lesser  degree  the  friendships  of  earth's 
noble  intellects,  its  unselfish  martyr-souls 

1  John  xiy,  16. 


168  JONATHAN 

and  saints,  have  the  same  power.  They 
interpret  to  us  the  deepest  in  life  and  in  God 
in  so  far  as  they  have  woven  it  into  their 
thought  and  characters.  They,  in  bodily 
presence,  come  often  more  sensibly  near  to 
us  than  the  ascended  Master,  and  it  is  a  part 
of  their  function  to  interpret  Him  to  us,  as 
He  interprets  God. 

One  denomination,  the  Society  of  Friends, 
recognizing  the  divine  significance  of  friend- 
ship, when  it  exists  on  its  highest  level,  has 
by  its  name  consecrated  itself  to  the  service 
of  this  ideal.  The  vow  of  consecration  has, 
perhaps,  not  been  so  well  kept  as  it  might 
have  been,  but  it  represents  a  noble  endeavor 
to  prove  worthy  of  the  friendship  of  the 
Highest,  in  purity  of  soul  and  in  cleanness 
of  life. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

DAVID. 

"  I  have  found  David,  the  son  of  Jesse,  a  man  after 
mine  own  heart,  who  shall  do  all  my  will."  Acts 
xiii,  22. 

"  Who  lends  mighty  aid  to  His  King, 
Shows  favor  to  His  anointed, 
To  David  and  to  his  descendants  forever." 

Psalm  xviii,  50  in  Polychrome  Bible. 

IT  is  not  easy  to  bring  ourselves  to  form 
in  our  minds  a  correct  picture  of  the  his- 
torical David.  His  reign  and  his  person- 
ality appeared  so  glorious  and  strong  to  the 
succeeding  generations  of  reverent  Israel- 
ites, that  an  idealizing  tradition  gradually 
attributed  to  him  much  which  should  be 
credited,  as  we  have  now  learned,  to  the 
noble  and  inspired  men  who  came  after  him. 
The  real  David  we  have  reflected,  not  in  the 
psalter,  but  in  the  books  of  Samuel.1  He 
was  a  man  of  strong  character,  possessed  of 
a  personality  wonderfully  attractive  and  in- 
spiring. True,  it  has  some  dark  aspects,  if 

»See  the  articles  "  Darid  "  in  Easting's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible 
and  the  Encyclopedia  Biblica,  also  "The  Historical  David  "  in  th* 
Ntw  World,  September  1895,  pp.  040-560. 

159 


160  DAVID 

we  judge  it  by  the  standards  of  our  own 
time,  but  these  grew  out  of  the  rough  age 
in  which  he  lived.*  They  prevent  us  from 
regarding  him  as  the  ideal  saint  which  tra- 
dition has  delighted  to  paint  him,  but, 
unless  he  had  so  transcended  his  time  as  to 
have  been  quite  useless  in  it,  he  could  not 
have  escaped  such  faults.  Apart  from  these 
he  was  a  healthy,  brave,  generous  and  at- 
tractive character. 

An  Old  Testament  writer,1  who  is  quoted 
in  the  book  of  Acts,  described  him  as  "a 
man  after  Jehovah's  own  heart,"  which 
meant,  as  the  context  shows,  that  he  pos- 
sessed the  necessary  qualities  of  warrior  and 
organizer  to  bring  Israel  into  a  position 
where  she  could  fulfill  the  destiny  as  a 
nation,  which  Jehovah  designed  for  her.  It 
was  not  the  inner  qualities  of  heart,  such  as 
we  now  conceive  that  man  to  possess  whom 
we  regard  as  most  closely  representative  of 
the  divine  purpose,  but  the  more  external 
qualities  of  general  and  king  of  which  this 
was  said.  At  a  time  when  Jehovah  was 
considered  the  God  of  battles  the  man 


DAVID  161 

"  after  His  own  heart "  must  naturally  be  a 
merciless  warrior.  Such  a  man  could  not 
be  the  author  of  the  most  spiritual  psalms, 
but  he  could  weld  the  disorganized  Israelit- 
ish  federation  into  a  compact  empire. 

This  was  the  real  work  of  David,  and  it 
was  this  that  made  him  the  genuine  type  of 
Christ.     It  is  an  historical  fact  that  David 
made  the  Messianic  idea  possible  in  Israel. 
"Messiah"   is   but   the   Hebrew   word   for 
"Anointed  one."    In  the  early  time  it  meant 
king,  for  then  kings  only  were  annointed.1 
David  completed  the  work  of  making  Israel 
a  nation,  which  was  begun  by  Saul.     He 
united  the  tribes ;  he  conquered  and  made 
tributary  the   enemies  by  which  they  had 
been  surrounded ;  he  established  an  empire 
which    extended   from   Egypt   to  the  Eu- 
phrates, and  which  became  in  all  subsequent 
generations  the  ideal  of  the  Hebrew  domin- 
ion.    In  days  of  national  disaster,  when  the 
dominion  of  Israel  had  been  diminished  or 
destroyed,  prophetic   and  believing   hearts 
turned  longingly  back  to  the  figure  and  the 


'See  1  Sam.  xii,  3,  5;  etc.,  and  the  writer's  article  "Anointing," 
in  the  Jewish  Encyclopedia,  and  above,  eh.  vii. 


162  DAVID 

reign  of  David,  and  their  imaginations  were 
kindled  by  the  memory.  He  became  the 
ideal  of  the  Messianic  king,  and  his  king- 
dom, of  the  Messianic  kingdom.  David  the 
conqueror, — the  founder  of  an  empire  of  the 
faithful, — is  thus  the  physical  germ, — half-- 
barbarous as  his  rule  may  now  seem, — from 
which  our  conception  of  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God,  the  king  of  the  truth  has  been  gradu- 
ally made  by  God  to  grow. 

This  warrior,   then,   who    subdued   and 
united  Israel  is  the  type  of  Him  who  sub- 
dues and  unites  our  hearts.    As  David  made 
Israel  free  from  her  oppressors,  so  the  Christ 
makes  free   from  old,   besetting   sins.      As 
David  made  those  oppressors  tributary,  so 
He  makes  tributary  to  the  spiritual  life  of 
His  followers  those  appetites  and  passions 
which  inhere  in  the  body,  and  those  circum- 
stances   of    environment    which    tend    to 
destroy  the  spiritual  life.     The  kingdom  of 
David  thus  becomes  the  type  of  that  king- 
dom to  which  we   all   look   forward,   and 
which  will  be  established  when  the  spirit 
of  Christ  has  permeated   all   so  that  the 
"  kingdoms  of  this  world  become  the  king- 
doms of  our  lord  and  of  His  Christ." 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

SOLOMON. 

"Behold,  the  half  was  not  told  me."     1  Kings  x,  7. 

"  Fell  luxury  !  more  perilous  to  youth 
Than  storm  of  quicksands,  poverty  or  chains." 
— Hannah  More. 

SOLOMON  stands,  as  the  Bible  tells  us  the 
story  of  his  life,  for  the  enervating  and 
demoralizing  power  of  excessive  luxury.  He 
was  a  man  possessed  of  rare  natural  powers, 
who  in  his  youth  felt  the  inspiration  of  high 
aspirations  and  noble  impulses.  The  record 
of  his  choice  of  wisdom  rather  than  wealth 
bespeaks  for  the  young  Solomon  a  rare 
spirit.  Too  often  the  glamor  of  wealth 
blinds  the  hearts  of  the  young  to  the  value 
of  wisdom.  The  fame  of  the  wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon, like  David's  fame  as  a  warrior  and 
poet,  was  such  that  in  later  generations  it 
attracted  to  his  name  the  work  of  many 
others ;  but  notwithstanding  all  this  the  life 
of  Solomon  does  not,  on  the  whole,  stand  for 
wisdom,  but  for  the  deleterious  effects  of 
extravagance  and  luxury. 

163 


164  SOLOMON 

Solomon  beautified  Jerusalem  with  mag- 
nificent buildings.  His  own  palaces  were 
the  marvel  of  his  time  ;  the  palace  of  his 
Egyptian  queen  was  gorgeous  ;  the  temple, 
which  was  probably  built  quite  as  much  to 
increase  the  splendor  of  his  capital  as  to 
advance  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  was  be- 
lieved by  later  Hebrews  to  surpass  in  splen- 
dor anything  the  world  had  ever  seen.  The 
size  of  the  royal  harem  and  the  extensive- 
ness  of  his  court  rivalled  those  of  the  most 
luxurious  monarchs  of  Egypt  and  Babylon. 
The  system  of  taxation  necessary  to  support 
such  extravagance  became  very  burdensome 
to  his  subjects  and  was  the  direct  cause  of 
the  disintegration  of  his  kingdom  on  the 
accession  of  his  son. 

Later  generations  blamed  Solomon  for  his 
worship  of  foreign  gods,  but  so  far  as  we 
know  this  was  not  the  judgment  of  his  con- 
temporaries. We  have  no  record  that  a 
prophet  ever  rebuked  him  for  it,  or  that  any 
one  else  found  fault  with  him  in  his  lifetime 
because  of  it.  The  religious  conscience  of 
his  age  seems  to  have  detected  in  this  no 
wrong.  The  time  for  such  perception  was 


SOLOMON  165 

not  yet  come  in  Israel.  His  age,  too,  gloried 
in  his  magnificence  even  while  it  writhed 
under  his  oppressive  taxes,  but  the  end  of 
such  extravagance  and  sensuality  was  dis- 
astrous to  the  character  of  the  man,  and 
destructive  of  the  prosperity  of  his  state. 

Herein  lies  the  instructiveness  of  the  ac- 
count of  Solomon's  life.  Luxury  is  debas- 
ing ;  extravagance  is  destructive  of  charac- 
ter ;  excessive  riches  undermine  the  national 
life  ;  in  Christian  simplicity  alone  is  the 
guarantee  of  individual  and  national  pros- 
perity. There  is  here  a  warning  for  the  pre- 
sent generation.  The  industrial  and  social 
changes  which  are  producing  so  many  mul- 
timillionaires need  to  be  carefully  watched, 
lest  they  become  a  social  menace.  As  wealth 
multiplies,  the  spur  of  necessity  and  the 
restraints  of  poverty  are  removed  from  the 
children  of  an  increasing  number,  and  loss 
of  energy  and  of  moral  fiber  is  almost  sure 
to  result.  It  is  well  to  pray  the  prayer  of 
Agur :  l 

1 '  Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches  ; 
Feed  me  with  the  food  that  is  needful  for  me  : 

1  Prov.  xxx,  8, 9. 


166  SOLOMON 

Lest  I  be  full  and  deny  thee  and  say,  Who  is  Jeho- 
vah? 

Or  lest  I  be  poor  and  steal 
And  use  profanely  the  name  of  my  God." 

But  wealth  is  sure,  in  our  present  indus- 
trial order,  to  come  to  some.  A  genuine 
Christianity,  an  earnest  endeavor  to  keep 
before  the  mind  the  true  aims  and  purposes 
of  life,  due  regard  to  those  forces  which 
make  for  character  as  well  as  the  pitfalls 
which  luxury  presents  for  its  destruction, 
make  it  possible  for  these  to  live  in  Chris- 
tian simplicity,  to  grow  in  all  good  things, 
and  to  minister  of  their  riches  to  the  world 
as  "  good  stewards  of  the  manifold  grace  of 
God." 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

ELIJAH. 

44  In  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah."    Luke  i,  17. 

"  Stern  Daughter  of  the  voice  of  God ! 
ODuty!" 

—  Wordsworth. 

IN  striking  contrast  to  the  luxury  and 
magnificence  of  Solomon  stands  the  figure 
of  Elijah,  the  prophet  of  the  uncultivated 
steppe.  We  know  little  of  his  antecedents. 
He  comes  suddenly  to  view  in  our  Old 
Testament  narratives,  introduced  by  no  bio- 
graphical sketch.  Into  luxury,  the  splendor 
and  the  oppression  of  the  court  and  capital 
of  King  Ahab,  who  aped  the  magnificence 
of  Tyre,  the  mistress  of  the  world's  com- 
merce,1 came  the  gaunt,  unkempt  figure  of 
this  champion  of  justice  and  of  Jehovah. 
He  perceived,  if  others  had  not,  that  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  was  incompatible  with 
the  worship  of  foreign  gods ;  he  realized  also 
that  Jehovah  required  justice  to  be  done 
toward  all  His  people,  and  that  sacred 


'See  Ezekiel  xxvil,  and  xzTlii. 

187 


168  ELIJAH 

personal  rights  could  not  be  violated  with 
impunity  even  by  a  king. 

At  the  time  of  Elijah's  appearance  at  least 
one  foreign  cult  was  very  popular.  Through 
the  influence  of  Ahab's  Tyrian  wife,  Jezebel, 
all  the  power  of  the  court  was  exerted  to 
make  popular  the  worship  of  Baal.  This 
worship  was  calculated  to  appeal  strongly 
to  the  people  because  it  blessed  with  the 
sanction  of  religion  the  most  sensual  passions 
of  human  nature.  To  champion  single- 
handed  the  cause  of  the  unpopular,  ascetic, 
and  rustic  worship  of  Jehovah  against  the 
combined  forces  of  royal  influence  and  popu- 
lar approval,  which  supported  the  worship 
of  Baal,  required  a  heroism  of  the  highest 
order. 

That  Elijah  possessed  the  requisite  cour- 
age, the  dramatic  narrative  of  his  struggles 
which  we  have  in  the  book  of  Kings1  amply 
proves,  and  yet  even  his  spirit  sometimes 
fainted.  He  knew,  however,  the  secret  of 
communion  with  God.  He  withdrew  to 
Horeb,  where  at  that  period  Jehovah's  home 
was  thought  to  be,  and  in  sympathy  with 

1  Kings  xvii-xii. 


ELIJAH  169 

the  storm,  the  lightning  and  the  whirlwind 
breathed  out  the  feelings  of  his  passionate 
heart,  after  which,  in  communion  with  the 
still,  small  voice  of  God,  his  spirit  was 
cheered,  his  heart  revived,  and  he  himself 
prepared  for  new  and  noble  work.  Such 
communion  and  inspiration  were  the  source 
of  Elijah's  success,  and  are  open  to  us  all. 

His  insistance  upon  justice  between  man 
and  man,  even  when  the  one  man  was  a 
powerful  king  and  the  other  an  insignificant 
individual,  gave  him,  notwithstanding  the 
popularity  of  Baal-worship,  a  strong  hold 
upon  the  popular  heart.  This  insistance 
resulted  from  his  perception  of  the  moral 
nature  of  God.  Most  men  of  his  time 
thought — and  the  idea  is  still  in  the  world — 
that  whatever  they  did  God  could  be  cajoled 
into  forgiving  them.  Elijah  understood  and 
taught  that  righteousness  and  justice  are  the 
only  conditions  on  which  the  divine  blessing 
can  be  received.  God  can  neither  be  ignored 
nor  bought. 

Such  a  conception  of  God  came  like  a 
draught  of  fresh  air  into  a  poison-laden 
vault.  It  conflicted  with  vested  interests; 


170  ELIJAH 

it  met  with  opposition  ;  its  champion  could 
have  no  easy  life  ;  but  it  signified  the  dawn- 
ing of  a  new  era  of  religion  and  morality  in 
Israel. 

Israel  herself  perceived  the  true  signifi- 
cance of  Elijah's  life ;  she  realized  that  in 
him  a  most  unusual  man  of  God  had  been 
in  her  midst.  It  is  said  that  God  honored 
him  as  he  had  none  other,  except  Enoch, 
by  permitting  him  to  escape  the  under- 
world and  by  taking  him  directly  to  Him- 
self in  heaven. 

The  work  of  Elijah  did  not  die.  It  was 
taken  up  in  succeeding  generations  by  a 
succession  of  prophets,  as  we  shall  see,  and 
carried  on  to  the  culmination  in  the  coming 
of  the  Christ.  The  story  of  Elijah's  life 
illustrates  what  one  life,  even  though  it  be 
insignificant,  poor,  and  alone,  may  accom- 
plish for  God  and  the  world,  if  it  is  only 
lived  in  communion  with  God  and  in  com- 
plete obedience  to  Him, — i.  e.  if  it  is  lived 
"  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah." 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

AMOS.1 

"The  Lord  will  roar  from  Zion, 

And  utter  his  voice  from  Jerusalem  ; 
And  the  pastures  of  the  shepherds  shall  mourn, 
And  the  top  of  Carmel  shall  wither."   Amos  i,  2. 

"  It  often  falls,  in  course  of  common  life, 
That  right  long  time  is  overborne  by  wrong, 
Through  avarice,  or  power,  or  guile,  or  strife, 
That  weakens  her,  and  makes  her  party  strong ; 
But  justice,  though  her  doom  she  do  prolong, 
Yet  at  the  last  she  will  her  own  cause  right." 

— Spenser. 

THE  book  of  2  Kings  gives  us  but  scant 
information  of  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  II  of 
the  kingdom  of  Israel.  One  would  infer 
from  its  brief  reference  to  Jeroboam  that  his 
reign  was  unimportant,  whereas  just  the 
opposite  appears  to  have  been  the  truth. 
This  impression  results  from  the  fact  that  it 
was  unimportant  from  the  point  of  view 
from  which  2  Kings  was  written,  whereas 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a  modern  student, 
who  would  take  into  account  all  the  forces 
which  enter  into  a  great  creative  epoch  in  a 
people's  life,  its  importance  is  very  great. 8 

1  On  Amos,  see  George  Adam  Smith's  Book  of  the  Twelve  Pro- 
phets, ch.  Tl.     »  See  ob.  111.  of  G.  A.  Smith's  work  cited  in  n.  1. 

171 


172  AMOS 

It  was  a  time  of  peace,  and  one  reason  why 
the  chronicler  of  Israel's  history  found  so 
little  in  it  to  record  was  that  it  presented  no 
deeds  of  martial  valor, — no  records  of  bat- 
tles. 

It  was  an  era  of  peace.  Assyria  was 
once  more  a  weak  power,  the  Syrian  state 
of  Damascus  had  been  subdued  for  a  time, 
Israel  and  Judah  between  them  had  ex- 
tended their  dominion  almost  to  the  limits 
of  the  old  Davidic  boundaries,  trade  revived, 
wealth  accumulated,  the  national  hopes  and 
the  national  spirits  ran  high,  and  the  op- 
pression from  the  wealthy  was  keenly  felt 
by  the  poor.  The  increase  of  wealth  pro- 
duced a  leisured  class,  and  luxury  gave 
them  time  for  self-indulgence.  To  these 
the  Baalized  worship  of  Jehovah,  against 
which  Elijah  and  Elisha  had  protested, 
appealed  as  affording  opportunity  for  the 
indulgence  of  passion.  Even  if  they  trans- 
gressed the  known  laws  of  their  God,  they 
thought  he  could  be  bought  off  by  sacri- 
fices. 

Meantime  there  grew  up  in  the  village  of 
Tekoa  in  the  wilderness  of  Judah  a  simple 


AMOS  173 

shepherd.  He  was  poor  and  eked  out  his 
living  by  gathering  the  coarse  sycamore  figs 
which  were  eaten  only  by  the  poor.  But  his 
ear  was  open  to  the  voice  of  God,  and  in 
obedience  to  that  voice  he  appeared  one  day 
in  the  streets  of  Bethel,  the  capital  of  Jero- 
boam's kingdom,  with  the  cry  of  doom  upon 
his  lips  which  stands  at  the  head  of  this 
chapter.  As  the  people  gathered  about  him 
he  made  the  threat  of  doom  more  specific. 
The  sins  of  Damascus,  Edom,  Moab,  and 
other  neighboring  nations  were  not  only  to 
be  punished,  but  the  sins  of  Israel  herself. 
With  many  an  eloquent  illustration  did  he 
set  forth  the  truth,  that  violated  law  was 
sure  to  bring  doom.  Sacrifice  was,  he 
declared,  no  part  of  the  primitive  religion ; 
it  could  not  put  away  sin.  Justice  must 
"  run  down  like  water  and  righteousness 
as  a  perennial  stream," — moral  obliquity 
must  give  place  to  moral  rectitude, — or 
ruin  was  sure.  God  was  by  nature  a  moral 
God  ;  He  would  destroy  all  who  were  im- 
moral. 

For  some   days    Amos   proclaimed   this 
truth  till  his  words   were   reported  to  the 


174  AMOS 

king  as  treasonable,  and  he  was  expelled 
from  the  kingdom.  Uttering  a  warning 
message,  couched  in  the  narrative  of  some 
visions  he  had  had,  he  departed  to  his  high- 
land shepherd's  home,  and  we  lose  him  in 
the  obscurity  from  which  he  came.  Thanks 
to  the  new  literary  era,  which  the  prosperity 
of  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  had  made  possible, 
his  prophecies  were  written  down,  and  have 
been  transmitted  to  posterity  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  world. 

There  is  something  inspiring  in  the  pic- 
ture of  Amos.  This  humble  peasant,  leav- 
ing his  rustic  calling  to  hurl  the  anathemas 
of  God  against  the  injustice,  the  oppression, 
the  rottenness  and  the  sham  religion  of  a 
wealthy  and  cultivated  capital,  faithfully 
proclaiming  his  message  day  after  day, 
though  so  far  as  we  know  not  one  disciple 
was  found  to  cheer  his  preacher's  heart,  and 
still  holding  such  faith  in  its  truth  notwith- 
standing its  apparent  failure,  that  he  re- 
turned home  to  put  it  in  writing  for  future 
generations,  was  an  ideal  embodiment  of 
the  mysticism  and  the  heroism  of  the  high- 
est religious  service.  He  reminds  us  of 


AMOS  175 

a  greater  one,  who    "  trod  the   wine-press 
alone." 

Amos  did  much  to  give  the  world  a  right 
conception  of  God.  He  is  one  of  the  first 
clear  monotheists.  God, — Israel's  God, — 
controlled,  he  declared,  all  nations.  Then, 
too,  he  re-echoed  with  great  clearness  the 
message,  which  Elijah  began  to  utter,  that 
God  is  a  Being  who  is  uncompromisingly 
moral,  and  who  will  inevitably  punish  sin. 
None  of  the  messengers  of  the  olden  time 
proclaimed  more  clearly  the  reign  of  law, 
and  the  moral  basis  of  religion.  How  moral 
decay  was  to  be  overcome,  Amos  did  not 
tell.  His  picture  of  God  was,  it  is  true, 
somewhat  cold  and  unfeeling,  but  these 
defects  in  his  message  were  remedied  by 
those  who  came  afterward,  and  should  not 
blind  us  to  the  aspects  of  his  theology,  his 
work,  his  character,  and  his  heroism  which 
are  inspiringly  beautiful. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

HOSEA. 

"  As  the  bridegroom  rejoice th  over  the  bride, 
So  shall  thy  God  rejoice  over  thee." 

Isaiah  Ixii,  5. 

' '  Love  divine,  all  love  excelling, 
Joy  of  heaven  to  earth  come  down, 

Fix  in  us  thy  humble  dwelling, 
All  thy  faithful  mercies  crown." 

— Charles  Wesley. 

As  Amos  was  the  prophet  of  the  divine 
law,  Hosea,  who  came  soon  after  him  and 
took  up  his  work,  was  the  prophet  of  the 
divine  love.  If  the  message  of  Anios  awak- 
ened in  a  fallen  sinner  longings  to  enter  upon 
a  pure  life  and  to  know  a  real  communion 
with  God,  that  of  Hosea  pointed  out  how  all 
the  energies  of  the  great  Father  were  directed 
by  the  divine  love  to  help  into  the  new  life. 

The  way  in  which  Hosea  was  prepared  to 
receive  this  great  truth  and  to  proclaim  it 
contains  in  itself  a  most  important  lesson 
for  all  who  suffer.  A  man  of  pure  life  and 
affectionate  nature,  he  married  the  woman 
of  his  choice.  Gradually  it  dawned  upon 
176 


HOSE  A  177 

him  that  she  was  unworthy  of  him,  and 
that  she  violated  her  vow  of  wedlock.  Soon 
she  left  him  altogether  and  entered  upon  a 
life  of  public  shame,  in  which  she  sank  lower 
and  lower  until  she  was  sold  into  slavery. 
In  spite  of  her  shame,  however,  and  in  spite 
of  the  blight  she  had  cast  upon  his  life, 
Hosea's  love  followed  her.  As  he  brooded 
over  the  cause  and  the  meaning  of  this,  it 
dawned  upon  him  that  just  as  he  had  been 
put  to  shame  by  his  faithless  wife  and  yet 
loved  her,  so  Jehovah  had  been  put  to  shame 
by  Israel,  who  had  ruthlessly  broken  her 
vows  to  Him,  but  that  nevertheless  His 
heart  yearned  for  the  faithless  nation. 

At  last  Hosea  could  endure  his  wife's  ruin 
no  longer.  He  purchased  the  now  degraded 
slave,  separated  her  from  all  others,  and  tried 
by  patient  attention  to  win  her  back  to 
virtue  and  to  life.  As  he  did  this  he  also 
grasped  the  truth  that  God  would  do  the 
same  for  Israel, — would  in  His  providence 
separate  her  from  her  temptations  and  so 
unfold  to  her  the  depths  of  His  love  as  to 
win  her  heart. 


178  HOSE  A 

This  story  of  Hosea's  is  most  significant. 
The  sublimest  truths  lie  unperceived  around 
us  until  some  bitter  experience  opens  our 
eyes  to  see  them ;  they  knock  at  our  hearts 
in  vain  until  some  pain  compels  us  to  open 
the  door  for  their  admission.  This  is  the 
divine  cause  of  sorrow,  of  pain,  and  of  dis- 
appointment. God  does  not  permit  these 
things  to  come  upon  us  because  He  is  indif- 
ferent to  us,  but  just  because  of  His  love  He 
sends  them  to  open  our  lives  to  the  glorious 
heights  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  life.  The 
spikenard  of  human  life  must  be  beaten  in 
order  to  produce  its  fragrance.  It  is  because 
of  this  that  the  "  afflictions,  which  are  but 
for  a  moment,  work  out  their  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory." 

Long  had  the  Semitic  world  thought  of 
God  as  love,  but  they  had  held  the  thought 
in  a  gross  and  debasing  way.  Hosea  made 
the  thought  spiritual ;  he  elevated  it  to  the 
pure  atmosphere  of  heavenly  spotlessness. 
Such  a  conception  of  the  divine  love  as  he 
presented  made  social  life  pure,  and  raised 
the  thoughts  and  affections  of  the  worship- 
pers to  heights  only  less  elevated  than  those 
to  which  they  were  lifted  by  Jesus  Christ. 


HOSE  A  179 

Hosea's  message  is  still  the  message  which 
moves  the  world  and  raises  up  the  fallen. 
God  cares  for  me,  however  fallen  I  am.  His 
heart  yearns  ;  in  suffering  He  labors  to  make 
me  appreciate  His  love  ;  patiently  He  waits 
to  welcome  the  penitent  home.  The  marvel 
is  that  we  can  withstand  that  love  so  long ! 


CHAPTER  XL. 

ISAIAH. 
"  And  I  said  :  Here  am  I ;  send  me."    Isaiah  vi,  9. 

"  Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation, 
But  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people."    Prov.  xiv,34. 

ISAIAH  was  the  type  of  a  Christian  man 
in  public  life.  His  prophetic  activity  ex- 
tended over  forty  years  of  most  eventful 
history.  Beginning  to  prophesy  in  740  B.  C., 
the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died,  he  contin- 
ued his  work  through  the  short  indepen- 
dent reign  of  Jotham,  the  reign  of  the  weak 
Ahaz,  and  the  good  Hezekiah.  Under  the 
last  of  these  monarchs  he  held  the  position 
of  a  confidential  adviser, — a  position  which 
made  him  the  most  important  political 
figure  in  Israel  after  David.  Hezekiah  no 
doubt  accorded  him  this  position  on  account 
of  the  strong  utterances  which  Isaiah  had 
made  at  the  time  of  the  Syrian  war  in  the 
reign  of  Ahaz. 

These  forty  years  of  Isaiah's  life  were 
most  eventful  ones ;  they  covered  a  period 
which  called  for  the  highest  talent  in 

180 


ISAIAH  181 

statesmanship,  and  which  severely  tested 
the  sagacity  of  the  wisest  and  the  faith  of  the 
most  devout.  First  there  came  the  coalition 
of  Syria  and  Israel  against  Judah  in  the 
reign  of  Ahaz,  when  the  overthrow  of  Jeru- 
salem was  threatened.  Ahaz  and  all  his  peo- 
ple were  greatly  terrified  ;  their  hearts,  we 
are  told  trembled  "  as  the  trees  of  the  forest, 
tremble  before  the  wind."  Isaiah  alone 
retained  his  courage,  and  uttered  upon  this 
occasion  some  significant  prophecies  which 
will  be  considered  in  subsequent  chapters.1 
He  foresaw  that  the  new  and  powerful  king 
of  Assyria,  Tiglath-pileser  III.,  would  soon 
give  Judah's  neighbors  on  the  north  enough 
to  do  to  defend  their  own  dominions  and 
that  thus  Judah  would  be  relieved,  but  in 
spite  of  his  brave  and  hopeful  utterances 
others  remained  hopeless.  The  event  justified 
Isaiah's  faith  ;  the  Assyrian  king  made  his 
expedition  into  the  West ;  chastised  Judah's 
enemies,  and  saved  Jerusalem.  All  this 
was  about  735-733  B.  C. 

The  next  great  event  was  the  destruction 
of  Samaria  and  the  captivity  of  the  kingdom 

1  See  Isaiah  chs.  vii,  1-ix,  6,  and  also  below  chs.  xli,  xlii. 


182  ISAIAH 

of  Israel  in  722  B.  C.  Tiglath-pileser  had 
changed  the  Israelitish  dynasty,  putting 
Hoshea  on  the  throne.  After  the  death  of 
Tiglath-pileser  in  727  and  the  accession  of 
Shalmaneser  IV.  to  the  Assyrian  throne, 
Hoshea  rebelled.  The  armies  of  Shalmaue- 
ser  beseiged  Samaria  for  three  years.  During 
the  siege  Shalmaueser  was  succeeded  by 
Sargon,  whose  armies  finally  captured  Sama- 
ria and  deported  27,290  of  its  inhabitants.1 
Judah  was  all  this  time  subject  to  Assyria. 
The  temptation  for  her  to  rebel  with  her 
northern  neighbor  must  have  been  strong, 
and  it  was  doubtless  owing  to  Isaiah  that  it 
was  resisted.  Other  nations  in  Palestine 
and  Syria  rebelled  also,  and  in  the  year  720 
another  great  battle  was  fought  at  Raphia 
in  which  they  were  defeated. 

Some  years  of  quiet  followed,  when  the 
Philistine  city  of  Ashdod  rebelled  against 
Assyrian  rule.  The  armies  of  the  powerful 
Sargon  came  clamoring  by  Judah' s  very 
doors  again  as  they  marched  in  711  to  sub- 
due the  rebels.8 


1  The  number  is  taken  from  an  inscription  of  Sargon's. 
3  Cf.  Isaiah  xz,  1.  and  Roger's  History  of  Babylonia  and  Asty- 
r»a,TOl.ii,169. 


ISAIAH  183 

In  705  Sargon  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Sennacherib.  This  event  was  the  sig- 
nal for  another  revolt  on  the  part  of  all  of 
Assyria's  western  subjects.  In  all  these 
petty  states  there  were  two  political  parties, 
one  which  favored  making  Assyria  their 
suzerian,  and  the  other  of  which  advocated 
the  expulsion  of  Assyria  from  the  West  by 
obtaining  the  aid  of  Egypt.  Isaiah  had  all 
along  belonged  to  the  first  of  these  parties, 
and  had  felt  that  he  had  the  guidance  of  Je- 
hovah in  so  doing.  Up  to  this  time  he  had 
also  been  able  to  persuade  the  king  to  adhere 
to  the  Assyrian  policy.  Now,  however,  the 
king  chose  to  act  in  accord  with  the  Egyp- 
tian party  and  joined  them  in  their  rebellion 
against  Assyria.1  This  brought  against  Je- 
rusalem the  armies  of  Sennacherib  in  the 
great  siege  of  701  B.  C., — a  siege  in  which, 
though  the  armies  of  the  Assyrian  suffered 
disaster  and  withdrew,2 — resulted  in  the 
resubjugation  of  Judah  to  Assyria-  Several 
of  Isaiah's  most  important  prophecies  were 


1  We  now  know  this  from  Sennacherib's  own  statement.    See 
Price's  Monuments  and  the  Old  Testament,  p.  181  ft. 
*  See  2  Kings  six,  35,  and  the  reference  in  n.  1. 


184  ISAIAH 

uttered  in  connection  with  this  last  crisis,  * 
soon  after  which  he  probably  died. 

One  important  lesson  of  Isaiah's  life  is 
that  public  affairs  demand  the  devoted 
service  of  the  holiest  and  most  consecrated 
men.  In  our  great  republic  God  is  cry- 
ing out  through  many  a  glaring  wrong  : 
"  Whom  shall  I  send  ?  "  but  how  few  have 
the  faith  of  Isaiah  to  answer :  "  Here  am  I ; 
send  me."  England  has  had  her  Gladstone 
and  her  John  Bright ;  America,  her  Wash- 
ington, Lincoln  and  McKinley  ;  the  latter 
country  has  also  now  her  Roosevelt  and  her 
Seth  LONV,  but  how  few  of  those  who,  like 
Isaiah,  are  blessed  with  the  keenest  spiritual 
vision,  the  highest  moral  sense  and  the  sub- 
limest  faith  are  now  willing  to  serve  Christ 
by  serving  the  state  ! 

Not  all  are  called  to  public  service,  but 
from  Isaiah  each  citizen  should  learn  the 
religious  importance  of  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  civic  duties.  In  our  English-speak- 
ing countries  all  voters  are  sovereigns,  and 
are  in  part  responsible  for  all  civic  or 
national  sin.  8 

1  Chs.  x,  xi,  xviii,  xxii,  xxiii,  xxix,  xxxi,  etc. 
*  See  Kent's  History  of  the  Hebrew  People,  for  fuller  account 
of  Isaiah. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

IMMANUEL. 

"  Immanuel ;  which  is,  being  interpreted,  God  with 
us."  Matt,  i,  23. 

"  Who  like  Thyself  my  guide  and  stay  can  be  ? 
Through  cloud  and  sunshine,  Lord,  abide  with  me." 

-H.  F.  Lyte. 

IT  was  at  the  time  when  the  rumor  of  the 
approaching  attack  of  the  kings  of  Israel 
and  of  Damascus  had  carried  terror  to  the 
heart  of  King  Ahaz,  and  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people  of  Jerusalem,  that  Isaiah  met  Ahaz 
and  encouraged  him  to  ask  a  sign  from  God 
that  he  and  his  people  would  be  delivered 
from  this  impending  danger.1  Ahaz,  cov- 
ering his  lack  of  faith  under  a  cloak  of  pre- 
tended reverence,  refused  to  do  so,  saying 
that  it  would  be  tempting  Jehovah.  Isaiah 
then  declared  that  Jehovah  Himself  would 
give  a  sign  :  a  young  woman2  would  bear  a 


'See  Isaiah,  vii.  'The  Hebrew  word  used  does  not  signify  "  vir- 
gin," but "  a  young  woman."  The  word  implies  nothing  as  to  whether 
she  be  married  or  unmarried.  Probably  Isaiah  was  thinking  of  a 
married  woman.  The  Greek  translation  of  the  O.  T.  mistakenly 
renders  it  "virgin,"  and  the  author  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  who 
used  the  Greek  version,  naturally  quoted  it  that  way.  It  fitted  in  with 
the  story  of  the  virgin  •birth  of  Christ  which  had  come  down  to  him. 

185 


186  IMMANUBL 

son,  and,  in  her  confidence  that  God  would 
deliver  Israel,  she  would  name  him  Im- 
manuel,  "  God  is  with  us,"  and  before  a  time 
sufficiently  long  had  elapsed  so  that  the 
child  could  become  old  enough  to  discern 
between  good  and  evil,  her  faith  would 
be  vindicated, — God  would  interpose  and 
cripple  the  two  monarchies  which  were  then 
threatening  Judah.  How  Tiglath-pileser 
came  and  fulfilled  this  prediction  of  Isaiah, 
we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

To  understand  this  prediction,  we  need  to 
turn  back  a  little.  In  the  early  Semitic 
tribes,  when  they  held  the  conception  of 
God  described  in  chapter  I,  they  thought 
their  God  was  bound  to  deliver  them  what- 
ever they  might  do  and  into  whatever  straits 
they  might  come.  They  were  therefore  al- 
ways saying  in  time  of  danger  :  "  We  shall 
be  saved,  for  our  god  is  with  us."1  Al- 
though Jehovah  was  united  to  Israel  by 
covenant  instead  of  by  kinship,  there  were 
nevertheless  many  Israelites  who  indulged 
in  this  same  heathen  confidence.  Amos  had 


'The  underlying  thought  was  that  the  god  had  no  existence  apart 
from  the  tribe,  and  must  save  the  tribe  or  perish  himself. 


IMMANUEL  187 

sought  to  enforce  the  truth,  that  God  is  not 
on  the  side  of  the  wicked,  and  will  not 
deliver  them.  "Seek  good,  and  not  evil," 
he  exclaims,  "  that  ye  may  live :  and  so 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  hosts,  shall  be  with  you 
as  ye  say."1 

Isaiah  was  speaking  under  different  cir- 
cumstances. The  faith  of  the  nation  was  so 
shaken  that  they  were  in  despair;  they 
hardly  dared  to  ask  for  help.  He  encour- 
aged them  to  believe  that  Jehovah  would 
succor  them  by  the  manifestation  of  His 
divine  aid,  in  order  to  revive  their  faith. 
In  his  mouth  the  name  Immanuel  had  both 
a  backward  and  a  forward  glance.  It  re- 
minded them  of  the  old  faith  so  familiar  to 
all,  while  it  contained  the  suggestion  of  a 
larger  and  more  spiritual  consciousness  of 
the  presence  of  God. 

Our  first  evangelist  has,  by  his  quotation 
of  the  passage  made  it  evident  that  he  and 
his  generation  recognized  that  in  Jesus 
Christ  God  had  been  with  them  in  a  new 
and  fuller  way ;  and  we  gladly  recognize 
the  truth  of  this  fact.  In  no  other  being 

'Amos  v,  14. 


188  IMMANUEL 

who  ever  dwelt  upon  earth  has  God  been 
so  clearly  manifested.  In  the  centuries  which 
had  elapsed  between  Isaiah  and  the  coming 
of  Christ  the  old  consciousness  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God  in  life  had  nearly  vanished. 
Men  thought  of  God  as  afar  off ;  they  were 
looking  and  longing  for  Him  to  come  in 
His  messiah.  That  God  was  come  in  Jesus 
was,  therefore,  a  new  and  clear  message  of 
hope  and  cheer. 

Jesus  taught  His  disciples  that  God  would 
be  with  them  as  the  Spirit 1  after  His  own 
departure  ;  that  thus  He  Himself  would  also 
be  with  them  always.2  In  the  light  of  that 
truth  we  may  live.  "Closer  is  He  than 
breathing,  nearer  than  hands  and  feet." 
"  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us."  We 
may  be  as  ignorant  of  His  presence  as  the 
blind  man  is  of  the  quality  of  light,  if  we 
have  not  eyes  to  see  Him.  As  it  is  only  the 
clear  pools  which  reflect  the  stars,  so  it  is 
only  the  "  pure  in  heart  who  see  God." 
God  is  with  us,  but  just  as  surely  as  the  at- 
mosphere, upon  which  all  healthy  beings 
live,  is  the  source  of  corruption  to  all  dead 

'John  xiv,  16, 17  and  ivi.  13.      "Matt,  xxviii,  20. 


IMMANUEL  189 

tissue,  so  surely  is  the  presence  of  God  the 
earnest  of  the  destruction  of  all  that  is  sin- 
ful. To  find  consolation  in  the  great  truth 
of  the  immanence  of  God,  one  must  be  con- 
scious that  his  heart  has  been  purified,  and 
that  his  life  consists  of  a  definite  purpose  to 
conform  to  the  fundamental  laws  of  right- 
eousness, which  are  the  expression  of  the 
nature  of  God,  and  are  the  basis  of  the  uni- 
verse. 

To  have  God  consciously  with  us  to 
heighten  every  joy,  to  share  every  pain,  to 
heal  every  wound  by  the  balm  of  His  love, 
to  guide  us  in  the  right  way,  to  disclose  to 
us  brighter  and  better  ideals,  and  to  help  us 
to  attain  them, — this  is  a  privilege  unspeak- 
ably great,  but  it  is  the  privilege  of  the 
Christian. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

THE  PRINCE  OF  THE  FOUR  NAMES. 

"  For  unto  us  a  child  is  born, 
Unto  us  a  son  is  given, 
And  dominion  is  on  his  shoulder : 
And  his  name  is  called  Wonder-Counsellor, 
God-of-a-warrior,  Father-of-Booty, 
Prince  of  peace." 

Isa.  ix,  6,  according  to  the  Hebrew. 

"  A  fairer  paradise  is  founded  now 
For  Adam  and  his  chosen  sons,  whom  thou 
A  Savior  art  come  down  to  re-install 
Where  they  shall  dwell  secure." 

Milton's  Paradise  Regained. 

THE  prophecy  quoted  at  the  beginning  of 
this  chapter  has  long  been  regarded  by 
Christians  as  a  prophecy  of  Christ.  It  was 
a  prophecy  of  the  Messiah,  and  as  Christ  ful- 
filled the  Messianic  prophecies  better  than 
even  the  Jews  expected  them  to  be  fulfilled, 
it  was  in  that  sense  a  prophecy  of  Him. 
We  cannot  now  think  of  the  prophet  as  look- 
ing forward  through  the  centuries  and  be- 
holding Christ,  as  we  behold  Him  in  look- 
ing back.  We  are  compelled  to  recognize 
that  Isaiah  was  holding  an  ideal  before  the 

190 


THE   PRINCE   OF   THE    FOUR    NAMES     191 

men  of  his  time,  which  would  be  helpful  to 
them,  and  should  first  look  to  see  what 
meaning  his  words  had  for  the  men  of  his 
own  generation. 

This  prophecy  forms  a  part  of  the  same 
series  of  utterances  as  the  prophecy  of  Irn- 
manuel.  Like  that  prophecy  it  was  spoken 
when  the  prophet  foresaw  that  Tiglath- 
pileser  would  march  into  the  West  and  begin 
those  wars,which  would  crush  the  enemies  of 
Judah.  The  gaze  of  Isaiah  went  beyond 
that.  He  looked  forward  to  a  time  when 
Israel  would  have  a  king  greater  than  Tig- 
lath-pileser.  It  was  a  hard  age.  The  inner 
spiritual  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  God  had 
not  been  disclosed  to  even  the  best  of  men. 
Isaiah  could  think  of  no  more  fitting  picture 
of  the  Messiah  who  would,  he  felt  sure, 
come,  than  that  he  should  be  a  glorified 
warrior.  Assyria  was  then  the  supreme 
nation  in  war ;  her  king  was  the  model  war- 
rior; but  the  Messiah  would  out-do  even 
him.  If  before  his  battles  Tiglath-pileser 
planned  his  struggle,  Israel's  Messiah  would 
be  a  Wonder-Counsellor,  far  surpassing  the 
Assyrian.  If  the  Assyrian  monarch  fought 


192     THE    PRINCE   OF   THE   FOUR   NAMES 

strenuously  his  fights,  Israel's  king  should  be 
a  very  god  of  a  warrior,1  If  Tiglath-pileser 
spoiled  the  country  of  his  enemies  and  car- 
ried off  his  prey,  Israel's  prince  would  be  an 
abundant  possessor  of  booty.  That  would 
be  one  of  his  chief  characteristics.  After  his 
conquests  the  Assyrian  monarch  took  meas- 
ures to  keep  his  new  territory  in  peace  ;  so 
the  Messiah  would  be  a  very  prince  of 
peace.  It  was,  however,  to  be  a  peace  won 
by  the  severest  struggle  and  the  most  glo- 
rious victories. 

All  this,  as  the  church  has  long  per- 
ceived,8 is  really  a  parable  of  the  work  of 
Christ.  The  events  of  the  inner  struggles 
and  the  spiritual  victories  of  the  soul  have 
long  been  pictured  in  terms  of  the  battle- 
field. The  soul  has  its  enemies.  If  it  does  not 
overcome  them,  they  will  accomplish  a  most 
disastrous  conquest  over  it.  Jesus  Himself 
faced  such  a  battle  at  the  time  of  His  tempta- 
tion. The  attitude  which  He  took  toward  the 
struggle  was  practically  unique.  The  teach- 
ing which  He  gave  to  others  concerning  the 

1  The  word  "  god  "  in  Hebrew  is  more  widely  applied  than  in 
English,  being  sometimes,  as  in  this  passage,  used  or  human  beings. 
*  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  church  has  understood  it  aa  here 
set  fortU. 


THE   PRINCE   OF   THE    FOUR    NAMKS     193 

struggle  of  life  was  of  the  same  quality,  and 
was  marvellous  indeed.  The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  if  it  stood  alone,  would  entitle  Him 
to  the  name  "  Wonder-Counsellor." 

But  Jesus  was  also  the  ideal  spiritual 
warrior.  Not  only  in  the  way  in  which  He 
repelled  temptation,1  but  in  the  way  in 
which  by  word  and  deed  throughout  His 
ministry  He  withstood  evil  at  the  greatest 
sacrifice  of  personal  ease,  and  most  of  all  in 
the  supreme  gift  of  Himself  upon  the  cross. 
None  other  is  to  be  compared  to  Him  !  How 
much  more  appropriate  do  the  prophet's 
words  seem  to  Him  than  ever  Isaiah  could 
have  dreamed, — "  God  of  a  warrior  I "  Most 
fittingly  does  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  describe  Him  as  the  "  Captain 
of  our  salvation." 

He  is  also  the  "  Father  of  booty  "  in  that 
He  brings  all  those  passions,  appetites,  and 
powers  of  life,  which  seem  to  be  hostile  to 
the  spiritual  life,  into  subjection  to  Himself. 
They  are  not  eradicated,  but, — better  than 
that, — they  are  made  to  contribute  material 
upon  which  the  spiritual  life  can  feed.  He 

» S«e  above  ch.  vlil. 


194     THE   PRINCE   OF  THE   FOUR   NAMES 

can  make  passions — which,  if  they  ran  riot, 
would  make  the  man  a  beast,  contribute 
the  energy  to  take  him  to  heights  of  saint- 
hood and  spiritual  experience  which  would 
otherwise  never  be  reached. 

He,  too,  is  the  "  Prince  of  peace."  Peace 
can  only  come  to  the  spirit,  all  of  whose 
powers  are  brought  into  harmony.  The 
warfare  into  which  He  leads  produces  that 
harmony.  It  takes  the  soul  into  fellowship 
with  God  ;  He  gives  dominion  over  all  the 
sources  of  life's  felicity.  He  unites  the 
powers  of  the  life  for  harmonious,  healthful, 
spiritual  living.  When  He  says  :  "  Peace  I 
leave  with  you ;  my  peace  I  give  unto  you," 
it  is,  for  the  soul  which  listens  aright,  no 
idle  utterance. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

JOSIAH'S  REFORM. 

"  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  restoring  the  soul, 
The  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the 
simple."     Psalm  xix,  7. 

"  And  the  low  chancel  side-lights  half  acquaint 
The  eye  with  shrines  of  prophet,  bard  and  saint, 
Their  age-dimmed  tablets  traced  in  doubtful  writ ! 
But  only  when  on  form  and  word  obscure 
Falls  from  above  the  white  supernal  light 
We  read  the  mystic  characters  aright." 

—  Whittier. 

ABOUT  thirty-five  years  before  the  Baby- 
lonian exile,  in  the  days  of  king  Josiah, 
Judah's  last  good  and  noble  king,  a  great 
commotion  was  created  in  the  religious  cir- 
cles of  Jerusalem  by  the  discovery  in  the 
temple  of  a  law-book  previously  unknown. 
It  professed  to  be  the  law  of  Moses.  It  was 
read  before  the  king,  and  he  was  profoundly 
impressed  by  it.  He  commanded  that  its 
genuineness  should  be  tested,  and  they 
applied  to  it  the  only  test  they  knew,  the 
religious  test.  It  was  submitted  to  Huldah, 
the  prophetess,  and  she,  finding  it  in  har- 
mony with  what  she  conceived  the  will  of 

195 


196  JOSIAH'S  REFORM 

Jehovah  as  expressed  through  Moses  to  be, 
pronounced  it  genuine.  It  was  very  appar- 
ent that  the  life  of  the  nation  was  by  no 
means  organized  in  accordance  with  the  will 
of  Jehovah,  if  this  law  expressed  His  will ; 
Josiah,  therefore,  instituted  a  reform  in 
which  he  sought  to  bring  the  kingdom  into 
conformity  to  this  law.  It  is  clear  when 
we  compare  the  account  of  this  reform  in 
Kings  1  with  the  Pentateuch,  that  the  law- 
book  then  found  was  the  legal  kernel  of  our 
book  of  Deuteronomy.  This  is  the  almost 
unanimous  view  of  modern  scholars.  The 
abolition  of  the  high  places,  which  Josiah 
accomplished,  is  prescribed  in  Deuteron- 
omy ;  the  exclusion  of  Asherahs  and  pillars 
is  likewise  enjoined  by  the  Deuteronomic 
code,  and  there  are  a  number  of  such  coinci- 
dences. 

The  appearance  of  this  code  at  this  time 
was  most  opportune.  From  the  time  of 
Elijah  prophets  had  labored  to  purify  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  from  foreign  and  un- 
worthy elements,  but  had  labored  with  little 
success.  In  the  time  of  Isaiah  they  had 

1  S««  2  Kingi,  Mil,  zzlii. 


JOSIAH'S  REFORM  197 

almost  succeeded,  but  the  reign  of  Manasseh 
brought  a  disastrous  reaction,  which  seemed 
to  turn  the  tide  of  progress  back  indefi- 
nitely. None  of  these  prophets  had  known 
such  a  law  as  this,  for  they  never  appeal 
to  it.  Could  they  have  done  so,  it  would 
have  been  a  great  aid  to  their  cause.  Their 
work,  had  however,  prepared  the  way  for' 
it,  and  the  time  had  come  when  it  was  pos- 
sible to  eliminate  many  of  the  old  corrupting 
elements  from  the  current  forms  of  worship. 
This  law  came,  as  did  the  Greek  Testament 
to  the  devout  men  of  Europe  at  the  time  of 
the  revival  of  learning,  to  profoundly  stir  the 
conscience,  and  to  awaken  new  ideals.  King 
and  people  accepted  the  law  and  bound 
themselves  to  keep  it,  and  the  prophets 
devoted  the  following  years  to  a  ministry 
calculated  to  help  the  people  to  keep  this 
resolution. 

This  is  the  historical  beginning  of  our 
Biblical  canon.  Sacred  narratives  had  been 
known  before,  and  a  little  code  of  laws,  but 
they  had  never  been  formally  accepted  by 
the  people  as  the  basis  of  their  religious  life. 
The  laws,  too,  which  they  had  known  were 


198  JOSIAH'S  REFORM 

largely  secular,1  while  the  new  laws,  not 
only  regulated  much  more  closely  the  ritual, 
but  breathed  a  more  gentle  spirit  into  the 
common  relationships  of  life. 

One  cannot  reflect  on  this  first  step  in  the 
canonization  of  our  Bible  without  feelings 
of  reverent  thankfulness.  It  was  the  begin- 
ning of  a  recognition  that  God  has  stored 
up  in  the  records  of  the  experiences  of  the 
saints  and  heroes  of  the  past  laws  for  our 
guidance,  words  of  warning  for  our  sins, 
and  messages  of  cheer  for  our  difficulties. 
In  the  course  of  the  centuries  other  books 
were  added,  until  the  "divine  library,"  as 
Jerome  used  to  call  it,  includes  not  only 
the  records  of  the  history,  the  polity,  the 
aspirations  and  the  tribulations  of  the  Jew- 
ish people,  but  the  portrait  of  "  the  one 
ineffable  Face,"  and  the  thoughts  of  those 
who  were  inspired  by  it.  Since  then  it  has 
circulated  over  the  world,  revealing  the 
heart  of  man  to  himself,  holding  before 
human  eyes  the  law  of  God,  awakening 
the  conscience,  unfolding  the  story  of  the 


1  It  was  the  so-called   "  Book  of  the  Corenant,"  Ex.  xxii,  34- 
xxiii,49. 


JOSIAH'S  REFOKM  199 

Father's  forgiveness  in  Christ,  and  forming 
by  its  lofty  teaching  the  characters  of  the 
saints. 

Can  one  really  measure  his  life  by  its 
best  standards  and  not  follow  Josiah's  exam- 
ple by  instituting  a  reform  ? 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

JEREMIAH. 

"  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."    2  Cor.  xii,  9. 

"  When  sorrow  all  our  heart  would  ask, 
We  need  not  shun  our  daily  task, 

And  hide  ourselves  for  calm  ; 
The  herbs  we  seek  to  heal  our  woe 
Familiar  by  our  pathway  grow, 

Our  common  ah*  is  bairn." 

— Keble. 

FEW  biographies  are  sadder  than  that  of 
Jeremiah.  Beginning  his  prophetic  work 
when  a  mere  boy,  six  years  before  Josiah 
undertook  his  reform,  Jeremiah  threw  him- 
self most  earnestly  into  the  work  of  lifting 
his  compatriots  to  the  ideal  which  the  new- 
found law  set  before  them.  The  untimely 
death  of  Josiah  in  the  year  608,  transformed 
what  had  seemed  a  hopeful  task  into  a  most 
hopeless  one.  The  kings  who  followed  were 
not  enthusiastic  for  the  new  movement, 
and  were  unwilling  to  follow  consistently 
the  only  policy  which  could  prolong  the  life 
of  the  Jewish  state,  and  which  Jeremiah, 
like  Isaiah  before  him*  continually  advo- 
cated. Babylon  had  now  taken  the  place  of 

200 


JEREMIAH  201 

Assyria  as  a  world  power.  Israel's  safety 
depended  on  an  alliance  with  Babylon,  but 
the  monarchs  were  always  trying  to  unite 
with  Egypt  and  ether  states  in  the  West  to 
throw  off  the  Babylonian  yoke.  The  result 
was  a  series  of  national  disasters.  Jerusalem 
was  besieged  and  taken  by  Nebuchadnezzar 
in  the  year  598,  and  a  large  number  of  the 
nobility  taken  captive  along  with  the  king. 
A  new  king,  the  creature  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, was  placed  on  the  throne,  but  he  in 
turn  rebelled,  and  in  586  the  Babylonians 
completely  destroyed  Jerusalem  and  razed 
its  temple1  to  the  ground. 

These  were  trying  years  for  Jeremiah.  A 
consistent  advocate  of  the  Babylonian  policy, 
he  was  often  suspected  of  treason,  and  his 
life  was  more  than  once  in  danger.  But 
with  brave  and  faithful  heart  he  remained 
true  to  his  divine  message,  though  all  men 
seemed  to  turn  against  him.  At  last  he 
was  carried  against  his  will  to  Egypt,  a 
country  against  which  he  had  prophesied 
all  his  life,  and  we  lose  sight  of  him  there. 

lFor  details  see  Kent's  History  of  the  Hebrew  People,  Vol.  II.. 
pp.  183-204. 


202  JEREMIAH 

Throughout  his  life  every  evil  which  he 
opposed  seemed  to  prosper,  and  every  good 
which  he  advocated  was  trampled  upon. 
At  times  he  was  greatly  discouraged  ;  who 
would  not  be  ?  But,  in  spite  of  everything, 
he  was  loyal  to  the  truth,  and,  though  events 
seemed  to  go  most  persistently  as  he  wished 
them  not  to  do,  by  cheering  the  hearts  of  a 
few  faithful  men  and  women  he  did  much  to 
establish  the  Israel  of  the  future. 

In  this  life  of  sorrow  Jeremiah  found,  as 
Hosea  had  done  before  him,  that  God  was 
teaching  him  new  and  important  truth. 
Before  his  time  it  had  been  thought  that 
God  dealt  with  the  nation  rather  than  with 
the  individual ;  the  individual  was  of  im- 
portance only  as  his  conduct  affected  the 
nation.  The  family  had  been  thought  to  be 
the  unit;  children  suffered  punishment  for 
the  sins  of  their  fathers,  and  fathers,  for  the 
sins  of  their  children.  Jeremiah  was  the 
first  to  learn  that  God  deals  with  the  indi- 
vidual, and  that  moral  responsibility  is 
personal.  He,  too,  perceived  before  others 
of  his  time,  that  religion  is  a  matter  of  the 

»Jer.  xxxi,29,30. 


JEREMIAH  203 

heart,  and  that  it  can  exist  without  ritual  or 
outward  aid.  Other  prophets  had  appar- 
ently believed  that  the  gods  of  other  nations 
had  a  real  existence;1  Jeremiah  is  the  first 
to  recognize  them  as  mere  vanities.8  He 
also  first  grasped  the  fact  that  Gentile3  as 
well  as  Jew  may  come  and  worship  Jehovah, 
and  find  salvation  and  peace.  To  grasp  four 
great  and  fundamental  religious  truths 
which  other  men  have  not  grasped  is  no 
small  privilege.  To  add  these  truths  to  the 
common  stock  of  religious  knowledge,  is  no 
small  contribution  for  one  life. 

Herein  the  life  of  Jeremiah  teaches  us  its 
lesson.  It  is  the  lesson  of  the  life  of  Hosea, 
and  the  lesson  which  Paul  learned  in  the 
hour  of  his  affliction.  Adversity,  if  borne  in 
the  right  spirit,  leads  to  mountains  of  trans- 
figuration ;  sorrow,  if  the  soul  seeks  the 
grace  which  is  sufficient,  opens  the  eyes  to 
new  visions  of  God. 

"  Go,  then,  earthly  fame  and  treasure ! 

Come  disaster,  scorn,  and  pain  ! 
In  thy  service  pain  is  pleasure 

With  thy  favor  loss  is  gain." 


'See  Micab  iv,  5.       ' Jer.  XT!,  19  ff,  and  zir,  22.       Met.  xvi,  19, 90. 


204  JEREMIAH 

When  the  life  of  Jeremiah  ended,  all  the 
powers  against  which  he  had  striven  seemed 
triumphant,  but  the  spirit  of  the  heroic  pro- 
phet lived  and  animated  the  Jewish  church 
in  the  later  centuries.  In  this  respect  the 
life  of  Jeremiah  resembles  the  life  of  the 
Son  of  man.  When  He  was  crucified  and 
buried,  His  enemies  thought  they  had  tri- 
umphed over  Him  forever,  but  His  spirit 
animates  and  inspires  the  Christian  world. 
Love  conquers  by  suffering,  by  surrender, 
and  by  the  cross.  It  is  still  God's  way  of 
advancing  the  kingdom.  May  we  prove  as 
faithful  in  the  work  as  was  Jeremiah  ! 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

HABAKKUK. 

"  The  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithfulness." 
Habakkuk  ii,  4.  R.  V.  Margin. 

"  Though  the  fig-tree  do  not  blossom, 
And  no  fruit  be  on  the  vines, 
Fail  the  produce  of  the  olive, 
And  the  fields  yield  no  meat, 
Cut  off  be  the  flocks  from  the  fold 
And  no  cattle  in  the  stalls, 
Yet  in  the  LORD  will  I  exult, 
I  will  rejoice  in  the  God  of  my  Salvation." 
— Habakkuk  iii,  77, 18.    Version  of  G.  A.  Smith. 

ANOTHER  prophet,  who  lived  in  the  sad 
days  of  Jeremiah,  and  who  shared  Jere- 
miah's hopes  and  doubts,  was  Habakkuk. 
The  little  prophecy  of  his,  which  has  sur- 
vived, is  mainly  devoted  to  a  problem, 
which  at  that  time  pressed  heavily  upon 
the  heart  of  every  Jew  :  "  Why  do  the  right- 
eous suffer?"  After  the  reform  of  Josiah 
the  nation  was  conscious  as  never  before 
that  it  was  making  a  noble  effort  to  do  the 
will  of  God  in  so  far  as  that  will  was  known. 
Now,  too,  they  had  the  external  standard 
of  a  written  law  by  which  to  measure  their 

205 


206  HABAKKUK 

fidelity  or  their  defection.  It  was  accord- 
ingly possible  to  see  to  what  degree  the 
divine  ideal  of  their  life  was  realized.  But 
the  more  nearly  they  seemed  to  approach  the 
appointed  goal,  the  more  numerous  became 
the  national  misfortunes.  What  did  it  all 
mean  ?  The  national  theology  had  always 
taught  that  prosperity  would  attend  the 
righteous,  but  now  adversity  was  their  con- 
stant portion. 

As  Habakkuk  brooded  over  this  he  gained 
a  new  insight  into  the  meaning  of  life.  He 
saw  that  in  the  last  analysis  it  was  not 
prosperity  and  present  victory  which  counts, 
but  character.  The  insolent  enemies  of 
Israel  should  be  finally  overthrown,  because 
their  prosperity  was  not  founded  upon  jus- 
tice and  uprightness  of  heart.  If  Israel 
could  but  be  patient,  and  keep  her  fidelity 
to  her  God  and  to  right  intact,1  her  reward 
was  sure.  Wrong  might  triumph  for  a 
time,  but  in  the  ultimate  shock  of  things  all 
would  be  swept  away  except  the  strong  and 
pure  character.  The  same  truth  is  taught 


1Th«  English  versions   wrongly  translate  "faith."     See  G.  A 
Smith's  Book  of  the  Tu>tlve  Prophtts,  Vol.  II.  p.  140. 


HABAKKUK  207 

under  another  figure  by  Paul ;  it  is  only  the 
gold,  the  silver,  and  the  precious  stones 
which  will  survive  the  fire  ;  the  wood,  hay 
and  stubble  shall  be  destroyed.1 

How  prone  the  world  is  to  forget  this 
lesson,  first  taught  by  Habakkuk,  but  re- 
peated many  times  since  his  day.  The 
spirit  of  the  present  age  praises  success, 
however  it  may  have  been  won.  Young 
men  are  taught,  not  by  word  but  by  the 
standards  of  the  market  place,  the  college, 
and  the  church,  that  at  all  hazards  success 
must  be  achieved.  No  matter  about  the 
man's  ideals,  if  only  he  be  rich.  Character 
is  a  secondary  matter  in  many  circles,  if  only 
one  be  brilliant.  But  success  is  only  for  a 
day,  while  character  abides.  In  the  testing 
moments  of  life — in  the  shock  of  worlds — 
it  is  the  just  who  survive.  "  Character  is 
destiny." 

The  third  chapter  of  Habakkuk  is  a  poem. 
It  once  stood  in  our  psalter,  or  in  one  of  the 
psalters  from  which  ours  was  compiled,  for 
it  has  the  musical  notes  attached  to  it,  which 
we  find  in  the  psalter.  Some  one  must 

ll  Cor.  iii,  11-15. 


208  HABAKKUK 

have  transferred  it  to  its  present  position  in 
the  book  of  Habakkuk,  because  it  harmon- 
ized so  beautifully  with  Habakkuk's  spirit. 
It  exemplifies  the  fact  that  the  man  of  faith- 
fulness and  of  justice  is  also  the  man  of 
faith.  No  more  sublime  picture  is  pre- 
sented in  literature  than  the  rural  poet  con- 
templating the  utter  desolation  of  all  that 
the  men  of  his  class  counted  of  worth,  and 
still  able  to  exclaim  : 

"  Yet  in  the  LORD  will  I  exult, 

I  will  rejoice  in  the  God  of  my  salvation. 

Jehovah,  the  Lord,  is  my  might ; 

He  hath  made  my  feet  like  hinds', 

And  on  my  heights  He  gives  me  to  march." 

In  hours  of  bitterest  sorrow  these  manly 
and  devout  words  from  the  distant  past  are 
still  our  solace,  giving  us  faith  to  look 
beyond  present  darkness  to  the  coming  light. 
The  faith  of  this  poet  was  like  the  faith  of 
Paul,  who  could  say  :  "  Most  gladly,  there- 
fore, will  I  suffer,  that  the  power  of  Christ 
may  rest  upon  me." 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

JOB. 

"Ye  have  heard  of  the  patience  of  Job."     Jas.  v,  11. 

"  If  a  man  die — might  he  live  again  ? 
All  the  days  of  my  service  would  I  wait, 
Until  my  renewal  came." 

—Job  xiv,  14,  Genung's  Version. 

THE  book  of  Job  is  another  piece  of  litera- 
ture which  grew  out  of  that  great  period  of 
stress  from  which  the  book  of  Habakkuk 
came.  From  a  literary  standpoint  it  is 
greatly  superior  to  Habakkuk.  It  is  one  of 
the  world's  great  poems,  artistic,  strong,  and 
profound.  Genung  has  happily  called  the 
book  the  "  Epic  of  the  Inner  Life."  *  a 
name  which  most  aptly  describes  it.  The 
author  of  the  book  felt  the  perplexities  which 
the  problems  of  the  age  imposed  upon  those 
who  held  the  old  theology,  and  set  himself 
in  this  work  to  depict  them.  He  was  a 
sage,  and  sages  stood  somewhat  apart  from 
the  prophetic  and  priestly  aspects  of  life. 

1  Gtenung's  Translation  of  Job,  "  The  Epic  of  the  Inner  Life," 
Houghton  &  Miffiin,  1895,  is  the  best  rendering  of  Job  in  English 
though  his  treatment  of  critical  questions  is  not,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Elihu  speeches,  always  satisfactory. 

209 


210  JOB 

They  allowed  themselves  a  greater  range 
of  thought,  and  greater  freedom  of  speech 
in  treating  divine  themes. 

The  author  of  Job  selected  a  tradition, 
which  had  come  down  from  the  far  past,  of 
a  series  of  calamities  that  had  happened  to 
an  old  patriarch.  On  the  basis  of  these  he 
constructed  his  imaginative  poem,  in  which 
the  friends  of  Job  present  the  out-worn  argu- 
ments of  the  old  Jewish  theology,  while  Job 
himself  exhibits  in  his  replies,  in  his  cries  of 
pain,  and  in  the  aspirations  to  which  he  gives 
utterance,  the  growth  which  such  perplex- 
ities and  such  pain  make  possible  for  the 
devout  spirit.  The  poet  has  done  his  work 
with  such  skill  that  we  may  actually  see 
the  growth  of  the  soul  as  it  takes  place 
before  our  eyes.  It  is  an  epic  such  as  may 
be  enacted  within  the  breast  of  any  man, 
who  comes  face  to  face  with  the  problem  of 
evil  and  of  suffering  in  this  world. 

We  have  in  previous  studies  become 
familiar  with  the  divine  function  of  suffer- 
ing. We  have  learned  how  some  of  the 
choicest  spirits,  such  as  Hosea  and  Jeremiah, 
were  made  able,  in  the  school  of  suffering, 


JOB  211 

to  contribute  some  of  the  most  important 
truths  to  the  world's  religious  knowledge. 
With  them  we  must  place  the  author  of  the 
book  of  Job,  for  in  the  furnace  of  affliction 
he  learned  that  the  present  life  is  all  too 
short  for  the  realization  of  a  divine  theodicy 
of  perfect  justice,  and  that  there  must  be  a 
life  beyond.  This  was  the  truth  to  which 
pain  opened  the  gates  of  his  spirit. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  real  value  of 
his  contribution  to  religious  thought,  we 
should  remember  the  general  view  of  the 
future  life,  which  his  contemporaries  held. 
It  has  been  already  outlined  in  these  pages.1 
It  was  thought  to  be  a  colorless  existence, 
into  which  the  blessing  and  the  justice  of  God 
never  came.  Centuries  before  the  contact 
with  Greek  thought  had  given  to  the  He- 
brews the  clear  conception  of  immortality 
which  they  later  entertained,  the  thought  of 
it  sprang  up  in  the  mind  of  our  poet.  It 
came  first  as  a  faint  hope  : 

"  If  a  man  die — might  he  live  again  ?  '" 
But  as  he  continued  to  strive  with  his  suf- 
fering, it  grew  to  a  firm  conviction.     Man 

'Above  in  oh.  xvili. 


212  JOB 

must  come  face  to  face  with  his  Maker. 
This  world  and  this  life,  with  all  their  trib- 
ulations and  disappointments,  are  too  small 
and  insufficient  for  the  satisfaction  of  the 
human  heart.  God  must  have  more  in 
store  for  us  or  he  would  never  have  given 
us  the  natures  which  he  has.  Thus  the 
confidence  of  the  poet  arises  until  he  can 
sing  *  : 

"  I  know  that  iny  redeemer  liveth  ; 
That  he  will  stand  survivor  over  the  dust ; 
And  though  when  my  skin  is  gone,  they  will  rend 

this  body, 

Yet,  I  without  my  flesh  shall  see  God  ; 
Whom  I  shall  see,  I,  for  myself; 
Whom  mine  eyes  shall  behold  a  stranger  no  more. 
Oh,  for  this  my  reins  consume  within  me  !  "  2 

Here  again  suffering  led  to  the  perception 
of  most  sublime  truth.  It  is  the  lesson  often 
found  in  the  Old  Testament  and  often  dwelt 
upon  in  these  pages.  It  is  God's  way  to 
disclose  His  truth  to  hearts  thus  prepared. 
These  examples  well  illustrate  the  Master's 
words  :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for 
they  shall  be  comforted." 

1  The  writer  does  not  agree  with  those  critics  who  regard  these 
words  as  a  later  interpolation.  *  Job  xix,  26-27,  according  to  the 
Hebrew. 


CHAPTER  XLVIL 

EZEKIEL. 

"  The  heavens  were  opened,  and  I  saw  visions  of 
God.  Ezekiel  i,  1. 

"He  felt  the  heart  of  silence 

Throb  with  a  soundless  word, 
And  by  the  inward  ear  alone 
A  spirit's  voice  he  heard. 

And  the  spoken  word  seemed  written 

On  air  and  wave  and  sod, 
And  the  bending  walls  of  sapphire 

Blazed  with  the  voice  of  God." 

— Whittier. 

EZEKIEL  was  preeminently  an  idealist. 
He  was  a  man  of  visions  and  mystic  com- 
munion. His  lot  was  cast  in  circumstances 
which  would  have  crushed  the  spirit  of 
many,  but  the  heavenly  vision  lifted  him 
above  the  baffling  present,  and  filled  his 
soul  with  courage  and  hope.  With  a  fine 
disregard  of  the  sacred  traditions  of  the  past, 
he  dared  to  utter  the  visions  which  he  saw, 
and  thus  he  became  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  future  greatness  of  his  people. 

213 


214  EZEKIEL 

Ezekiel  was  born  of  a  priestly  family.  He 
was  taken  to  Babylonia  with  king  Jehoia- 
chin  in  the  year  598  B.C.,  when  Nebuchad- 
nezzar took  the  first  body  of  captives  thither. 
Ezekiel  was  attached  to  a  group  of  captives 
which  was  settled  on  the  river  Chebar — a 
river  which  has  recently  been  shown  to  have 
been  near  Nippur,  about  sixty  miles  south- 
east of  Babylon.  It  was  a  lonely  place  for 
a  devout  young  priest.  Another  youthful 
Levite,  who  was  forcibly  taken  away  from 
his  native  land  in  the  same  way,  has  re- 
corded his  feelings  for  us  in  that  plaintive 
psalm : 

"  As  the  hart  panteth  for  the  water  brooks, 
So  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God."  * 

His  first  feeling  was  that  he  was  separated 
from  his  God  in  being  separated  from  the 
temple  and  the  land  of  Israel.  But  just 
as  the  psalmist  was  comforted  with  the 
thought  that  God  could  be  with  him  where 
he  was  going,  so  Ezekiel,  brooding  over  the 
mysterious  fortune  which  had  overtaken 
him  and  his  people,  found  God  by  the  river 

Psalm  xlii,  1. 


EZEKIEL  215 

Chebar.  Five  years  after  his  captivity  began, 
he  thus  became  a  prophet. 

For  seven  years  before  Jerusalem  finally 
fell,  he  united  his  voice  with  that  of  Jere- 
miah in  an  endeavor  to  keep  the  nation  faith- 
ful to  the  right,  in  order  that,  if  possible,  the 
final  catastrophe  might  be  averted.  When 
all  this  was  of  no  avail,  and  the  final  calam- 
ity was  over,  Ezekiel  did  not  despair.  The 
divine  vision  sustained  him.  Contrary  to 
all  analogy,  he  had  faith  to  believe  that 
the  captive  nation  would  be  restored,  and, 
prompted  by  the  divine  voice,  he  proceeded 
to  lay  new  plans  for  the  future  civil  and 
religious  polity  of  the  nation. 

In  doing  this  we  must  not  think  of 
Ezekiel  simply  as  the  recipient  of  an  ecstatic 
vision  which  superseded  his  mental  power 
of  activity.  It  is  clear  that  the  record  of  his 
visions  has  been  carefully  thought  out. 
Ezekiel  was  an  original  thinker,  but  his 
thought  is  made  all  the  more  valuable  by 
being  tinged  with  the  emotion  of  the  mystic 
devotee. 

In  outlining  the  future  polity  of  his  peo- 
ple he  illustrated  the  principle  which  Lowell 
has  so  well  expressed  : 


216  EZEKIEL 

"New  occasions    teach    new  duties;    Time    makes 

ancient  good  uncouth  ; 

They  must  upward  still,  and  onward,  who  would 
keep  abreast  of  truth." 

The  Deuteronomic  code,  which  had  been 
hailed  only  a  generation  before  as  the  law  of 
God,  he  planned  to  supersede,  and  drew  up 
a  new  code  of  laws,  a  new  plan  for  the  tem- 
ple, a  new  scheme  for  the  division  of  the 
land  among  the  tribes,  as  well  as  a  new 
scheme  for  the  government  of  the  land,1 
What  a  sublime  act  of  faith  !  The  captive 
bending  over  his  scroll  and  recording  the 
laws  for  a  nation  that  is  blotted  out  is  an 
example  for  the  ages.  His  influence  on  the 
future  is  an  encouragement  to  all  disheart- 
ened reformers. 

The  work  of  Ezekiel  partook  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  work  of  all  pure  idealists.  Some 
of  its  features  were  exceedingly  practical, 
while  others  were  utterly  impracticable.  It 
also  served  the  purpose  and  met  the  fate  of 
the  work  of  the  idealist  in  every  age.  It 
inspired  and  encouraged  many  others ;  its 


1  See  Ezekiel  xl-rlviii.  » 1  refer  to  his  scheme  for  redividing  the 
land.  See  the  chart  of  it  in  Davidson's  Ezekiel  in  the  Cambridge 
Bible  for  Schools  and  Colleges,  p.  355. 


*     EZEKIEL  217 

practical  features  were  taken  up  and  em- 
bodied in  the  code  which  in  the  next  cen- 
tury became  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
nation.1  Its  impractical  features  were  ig- 
nored and  did  no  harm.  It  is  given  to  no 
man  to  see  the  truth  in  all  its  relations  with 
perfection.  It  is  enough  if  by  his  vision  he 
lifts  the  age  a  little. 

God  is  calling  for  Ezekiels  now.  Old 
systems  are  passing  away.  If  the  future  is 
to  be  as  good  as  the  past,  thoughtful  men 
with  hearts  aflame  with  visions  of  God  must 
think  and  speak  and  plan  for  the  future. 
The  heavenly  vision  hovers  above  many  a 
head.  Oh,  that  we  might  see  it  and  be 
obedient  to  it ! 


1  Such  is  the  case  in  the  matter  of  the  Levites  as  separate  from  the 
priests.  Ezekiel  legislated  them  into  existence  (ch.  xliv,  8-13).  In 
the  Levitical  code,  which  was  adopted  in  the  time  of  Nehemiah, 
they  are  a  prominent  feature  of  the  organization. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

THE  GREAT  UNKNOWN. 

"  He  waketh  morning  by  morning,  he  waketh  mine 
ear  to  hear  as  the  disciples."  Isaiah  1,  4,  (according 
to  the  Hebrew). 

"That  low  man  seeks  a  little  thing  to  do, 

Sees  it  and  does  it: 
This  high  man,  with  a  great  thing  to  pursue, 

Dies  ere  he  knows  it. 
That  low  man  goes  on  adding  one  to  one, 

His  hundred's  soon  hit : 
This  high  man,  aiming  at  a  million , 
Misses  an  unit." 

— Browning. 

SCHOLARS  are  wont  to  call  the  great 
prophet  who  lived  near  the  end  of  the 
Babylonian  exile,  and  whose  work  has  been 
accidentally  bound  up  with  that  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  "  the  great  Unknown/'  be- 
cause his  name  has  not  come  down  to  us. 
In  one  way  this  is  a  misnomer,  for  we  know 
his  thought,  his  faith,  his  conception  of  God, 
and  his  conception  of  the  ideal  life,  far  better 
than  we  know  the  inner  life  of  most  of  the 
men  to  whom  we  can  attach  the  label  by 
which  they  were  known  to  their  contem- 
poraries. To  thus  know  this  prophet,  and 

218 


THE   GREAT    UNKNOWN  219 

to  appreciate  his  work  at  its  real  value,  is 
in  itself  a  religious  experience. 

That  the  chapters  which  follow  the  thirty- 
ninth  of  our  book  of  Isaiah,  were  composed 
in  the  Babylonian  exile,  is  now  a  generally 
accepted  fact.  They  presuppose  an  environ- 
ment when  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  were 
in  ruins,1  when  Babylon  and  not  Assyria 
was  the  dominant  power  of  the  world,  and 
when  Cyrus  was  a  well  known  political 
figure, — a  conqueror,  who  was  narrowing 
the  circle  of  his  conquests  nearer  and  nearer 
to  Babylon.2  The  literary  style  and  the 
theology  of  these  chapters  also  differ3  from 
the  literary  style  and  the  theology  of  Isaiah 
the  son  of  Amoz.  The  analogy  of  prophecy 
in  other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  also 
leads  us  to  the  same  conclusion.* 

This  conclusion,  so  far  from  detracting 
from  the  inspiration  of  the  prophecy,  or  from 
its  religious  value,  increases  our  recognition 
of  both.  Here  was  a  man  who  took  up 
the  work  of  Ezekiel  with  a  faith  greater,  if 


'See  Isa.  xliv,  26 ;  Iviil,  12 ;  Ixi,  4 ;  Ixiii,  18 ;  Ixiv,  10,  ff.  »See  Isa. 
xllv,  28 ;  xlv,  1.  'See  Driver's  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of 
the  Old  Testament,  p.  224  ff.  «See  the  reference  to  Driver  in  the 
preceding  note. 


220  THE   GREAT   UNKNOWN 

possible,  than  EzekieFs,  and  certainly  with 
an  eloquence  and  a  poetic  power  to  which 
Ezekiel  was  a  stranger.  He  foresaw  that 
God  was  shaping  events  so  as  to  present  an 
opportunity  for  captive  Israel  to  return  to 
her  land.  He  beheld  the  mass  of  his  com- 
patriots, who  had  been  seethed  in  the  Baby- 
lonian melting-pot  of  the  nations,  faithless, 
spiritless,  despondent,  and  utterly  unpre- 
pared to  profit  by  the  coming  opportunity. 
Morning  by  morning  his  ear  was  wakened 
with  messages  calculated  to  arouse  and  in- 
spire them  ;  day  by  day  the  messages  were 
eloquently  delivered.  Fortunately  for  us 
the  substance  of  these  messages  has  been 
preserved,  and  forms  one  of  the  most  at- 
tractive parts  of  the  Old  Testament, — a 
portion,  which  has  been  not  inaptly  called, 
the  fifth  Gospel. 

The  first  feature  of  the  work  of  this  great 
prophet,  which  claims  our  attention,  is  his 
use  of  the  intellect.  His  faith  is  an  intel- 
lectual faith, — a  reasoned  faith  ;  it  does  not 
spring  from  mere  feeling.  He  had  read  the 
history  of  the  world,  had  thought  upon  it, 
and  had  found  in  the  works  of  God  in 


THE   GREAT    UNKNOWN  221 

creation  and  in  the  history  of  His  people  an 
irrefutable  argument  for  the  being  and  the 
goodness  of  God.  This  argument  he  pre- 
sents with  a  power  and  a  beauty  unequaled 
in  the  religious  literature  of  the  world. 
This  prophet  is  the  prophet  of  the  educated, 
thinking  man.  He  also  is  a  fine  example 
of  a  man  who  sees  God  in  contemporary 
events,  and  who  realizes  that  he  is  living 
and  working  where  God  is  making  history. 
Another  important  feature  of  his  work  is 
his  great  faith  in  what  God  will  do  for  His 
people,  and  the  consequent  effort  which  he 
makes  to  persuade  the  gross-hearted,  this- 
worldly  multitude  to  cast  themselves  upon 
God,  and  to  undertake  to  build  up  the  ideal 
state.  Like  One  greater  than  he,  he  believed 
that  "all  things  are  possible  to  him  who 
believes."  It  is  for  this  reason  that  his 
chapters  abound  in  those  exquisite  assur- 
ances, which  are  still  the  choicest  promises 
to  the  Christian  pilgrim,  such  as :  "  Fear 
thou  not  for  I  am  with  thee,"  and  "  When 
thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be 
with  thee."  Then,  too,  he  saw  reason  for 
that  which  had  puzzled  Habakkuk  and  the 


222  THE   GREAT   UNKNOWN 

author  of  the  book  of  Job ;  he  caught  a 
glimpse  of  why  the  righteous  suffer.  It 
was  opened  to  him  that  that  suffering  was 
God's  appointed  means  of  diffusing  the 
knowledge  of  Himself  and  of  lifting  care- 
less and  stupid  men  up  to  the  level  of  faith 
and  of  nobility.  But  of  this  we  have  already 
treated.1 

Insensate  indeed  is  the  spirit  of  him  who 
can  read  the  work  of  this  prophet  under- 
standingly  and  not  experience  a  sacramental 
meeting  of  his  soul  with  God  ;  faithless  is 
he  who  can  turn  away  from  these  utter- 
ances and  continue  to  live  a  sordid  and 
materialistic  life!8 


'Above,  ch.  xlr.      "The  best  exposition  of  th«M  ohapttn  is  in 
George  Adam  Smith'*  Book  of  Isaiah,  Vol.  II. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

NEHEMIAH. 

"  Except  Jehovah  keep  the  city, 
The  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain." 
— Psalm  cxxvii,  i. 

"  Then  faint  not,  falter  not,  nor  plead 

Thy  weakness  ;  truth  itself  is  strong ; 
The  lion's  strength,  the  eagle's  speed, 
Are  not  alone  vouchsafed  to  wrong." 
—  Whittier. 

IN  the  year  444  B.  C.,  almost  exactly  a 
hundred  years  after  "  the  great  unknown  " 
prophet  had  begun  his  ministry  in  Baby  Ionia, 
we  catch  a  glimpse  of  Nehemiah,  a  princely 
young  Hebrew  at  the  court  of  Artaxerxes 
in  Susa,  who  was  cup-bearer  to  the  king. 
During  the  hundred  years  which  had  passed 
Cyrus  had  conquered  Babylon,  and  the  Per- 
sian empire  had  taken  the  place  of  the 
Babylonian.  Cyrus  had  reversed  the  policy 
of  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians,  and  had 
permitted  captive  peoples  to  return  to  their 
respective  countries.  This  gave  the  Jews 
the  opportunity  which  the  great  prophet  of 
the  exile  had  foreseen.  A  few  had  taken 

223 


224  NKHEMIAH 

advantage  of  it,  had  returned  to  Jerusalem 
and  erected  an  altar  on  the  site  of  the  old 
temple.  Twenty  years  had  rolled  by,  and 
then  through  the  labors  of  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  the  temple  had  been  rebuilt.  But 
seventy  years  more  had  rolled  away  and 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  still  in  ruins, 
and  its  poor,  struggling  inhabitants  were 
plundered  by  every  powerful  marauder  who 
passed  by. 

One  day  the  princely  Nehemiah  in  Susa 
had  an  opportunity  to  learn  from  a  passing 
Jew  the  desolate  condition  of  Jerusalem. 
The  sad  story  so  preyed  upon  his  mind  that 
the  king  soon  noticed  his  gloom.  Upon 
learning  the  cause,  Artaxerxes  appointed 
Nehemiah  governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  sent 
him  thither  with  full  authority  to  build  the 
walls.  The  story  of  his  arrival  at  Jerusa- 
lem, of  the  opposition  which  he  encountered 
from  the  Jews  themselves,  of  the  plots  which 
were  laid  by  others  to  frustrate  his  work,  of 
the  energy  with  which  he  overcame  all 
obstacles,  devoting  his  fortune  to  the  enter- 
prise and  persuading  others  to  do  the  same,  is 
vividly  told  in  the  early  chapters  of  the  book 


NEHEMIAH  225 

ofNehemiah.  It  was  a  herculean  task.  The 
picture  of  the  courtly  Nehemiah,  accustomed 
to  the  soft  apparel  of  the  imperial  court, 
working  like  his  men  armed  with  trowel 
and  bow,  the  implements  of  building  and 
of  defence,  sleeping  on  his  arms,  and  inspir- 
ing a  hopeless  nation  to  accomplish  the 
impossible  in  the  face  of  great  dangers, 
presents  us  with  a  noble  example  of  what 
can  be  done  when  one,  possessed  of  the  finest 
powers  and  blessed  with  the  best  of  oppor- 
tunities, presents  all  to  God  in  humble 
consecration,  and  receives  back  the  gift 
touched  with  the  emotion  of  a  heavenly 
inspiration. 

When  the  outward  walls  were  erected, 
Nehemiah,  with  the  help  of  Ezra,  proceeded 
to  erect  walls  for  the  protection  of  the  faith. 
Unknown  men  had  taken  up  the  work  of 
Ezekiel,  and  had  drawn  up  what  they 
regarded  as  ideal  laws  for  the  regulation  of 
the  religious  life.  They  were  all  endeavor- 
ing to  shape  the  religious  polity  so  as  to 
realize  the  ideal  for  which  the  Mosaic  reli- 
gion stood,  and  thus  regarded  the  laws 
which  they  collected  as  the  expression  of 


226  NEHEMIAH 

God's  will  through  Moses.  By  the  time  of 
Nehemiah  these  various  codes  had  been 
combined  into  a  Levitical  law,  nearly  re- 
sembling that  in  our  Bibles,  and  Nehemiah 
and  Ezra  made  a  great  convocation  of  the 
people  in  Jerusalem  and  induced  them  to 
bind  themselves  to  observe  this  law.  Within 
a  very  few  years  this  code  was  combined 
with  the  previously  known  laws  to  form  our 
Pentateuch.1  This  was  the  second  step  in 
the  canonization  of  our  Bible.  Ezra  had 
endeavored  to  accomplish  this  in  vain ;  the 
deed  waited  for  Nehemiah's  courtly  tact  and 
consecrated  skill.  Lovers  of  the  Bible  there- 
fore have  cause  to  bless  Nehemiah  still. 
Who  can  estimate  the  uplifting  influence 
which  the  first  five  books  of  our  Bible  have 
had  on  the  jurisprudence  and  the  science  of 
the  world  ?  No  matter  if  some  of  their  laws 
are  now  superseded  by  better  expressions  of 
the  spirit  of  Christ ;  no  matter  if  science 
now  is  able  to  present  a  more  exact  picture 
of  the  beginnings;  we  owe  the  vantage 
ground,  which  has  made  these  things  possi- 
ble, largely  to  the  preparation  of  thought  to 
which  these  books  helped. 

1  One  proof  of  this  is  the  fact  that  the  Samaritans  who  finally  split 
from  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Nehemiah  have  the  Pentateuch.  It 
forma  their  whole  Bible.  On  the  Samaritans,  compare  Price,  the 

Monuments  and thf  Old  Testament, ch.  xxiv. 


CHAPTER  L. 

THE  LEVITICAL  RITUAL. 

"  And  according  to  the  law,  I  may  almost  say,  all 
things  are  cleansed  with  blood,  and  apart  from  shed- 
ding of  blood  there  is  no  remission.  Hebrews  ix,  22. 

"  Oh  how  I  love  thy  law ! 
It  is  my  meditation  all  the  day." 

— Psalm  cxix,  97. 

CHRISTIAN  students  formerly  regarded  the 
various  features  of  the  Levitical  ritual  as 
types  of  the  work  of  Christ.  The  blood  of 
the  victims  represented  to  them  the  blood  of 
Christ,  as  did  badger  skins  dyed  red,  and 
other  crimson  elements  of  the  ritual.  This 
method  of  reading  Christ  into  the  ritual 
was  arbitrary  and  superficial.  That  the 
method  secured,  so  far  as  the  sacrifices  were 
concerned,  a  certain  degree  of  truth  has 
been  pointed  out  already,1  The  blood 
sprinkled  on  altar  and  congregation  was  a 
later  application  of  ritual  which  most  natur- 
ally represented  in  its  original  form  the 
work  which  Christ  accomplished  —  the 


1  Above,  Chapter  xiii. 

227 


228  THE   LEVITICAL   RITUAL 

binding  of  the  heart  of  the  believer  to  God 
in  a  real  community  of  life. 

By  the  time  that  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews was  written,  it  appeared  to  a  devout 
Jewish  Christian,  that,  according  to  (his 
law,  no  sin  was  forgiven  without  the  shed- 
ding of  blood.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  law 
does  not  provide  for  sacrifices  for  all  sins. 
A  few  ceremonial  sins,  which  can  hardly  be 
regarded  as  sins  except  from  a  superstitious 
point  of  view,  l  and  a  few  cases  of  false  deal- 
ing,8 are  the  only  individual  sins  for  which 
sacrifices  are  provided.  The  day  of  Atone- 
ment3 twas  a  sacrifice  for  national,  not  for 
individual  sins,  and  the  goat,  on  which  the 
sins  of  the  people  were  confessed,  was  sent 
out  alone  to  propitiate  the  wilderness  demon, 
Azazel.  No  sacrifices  are  provided  for  the 
sins  of  the  inner  life.  If  the  ritual  is  a  type 
of  Christ's  sacrificial  work,  it  is  a  most  im- 
perfect one. 

On  the  whole  the  Levitical  ritual  is  a 
type  of  ritualistic  Christianity.  Early 
Christianity,  like  the  early  religion  of  Israel, 
knew  no  elaborate  ritual.  Just  as  we  can 


lSee  Ley,  iv  and  T.  "See  Lev.  vi.  'Ley.  XT!. 


THE   LEVITICAL   RITUAL  229 

first  trace  the  Levitical  ritual  in  Israel's  set- 
tled life  in  the  time  after  the  exile, 1  so  Chris- 
tians first  used  an  elaborate  ritual  some  cen- 
turies after  the  departure  of  the  Master.  As 
the  Levitical  ritual  contained  some  supersti- 
tious elements,  such  as  the  conception  that 
contact  with  a  dead  body  is  sin,  and  that 
the  demon  Azazel  must  be  propitiated,  so 
ritualistic  Christianity  has  its  superstition 
of  transubtantiation.  Each  ritual  sought 
by  means  of  outward  forms,  some  of  which 
were  hoary  with  antiquity,  to  kindle  the 
imagination  of  the  worshipper,  and  to  uplift 
his  heart.  The  weakness  of  each  system, 
the  Jewish  and  the  Christian,  lay  in  the  fact 
that  it  interposed  a  priesthood  between  the 
worshipper  and  his  God,  making  him  believe 
that  God  is  far  away.  The  worshipper  was 
thus  robbed  of  some  of  his  highest  personal 
privileges,  and  of  the  conception  of  the  essen- 
tial sacredness  and  priestly  fanction  of  every 
good  life. 


1  From  the  days  of  the  Judges  to  the  exile,  no  trace  of  the  Leviti- 
cal ritual  appears  in  any  really  historical  book,  and  there  is  much  to 
show  that  it  was  not  observed.  On  the  origin  and  date  of  the  Leviti- 
cal code,  see  the  article  "  Leviticus"  in  Hasting's  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible,  Carpenter  and  Harford-Battersby's  Hexaleuch,^fo\..  I,  pp. 
121-157,  and  Driver's  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old 
Testament,  pp.  118-150. 


230  THE   LEVITICAL   RITUAL 

And  yet  both  iii  Judaism  and  in  Chris- 
tianity the  ritualistic  element  performed  a 
useful  function.  In  those  hard  and  trying 
centuries  between  the  exile  and  the  Chris- 
tian era,  it  was  because  the  Jew  had  an  ob- 
jective, well  organized  worship  for  which  to 
strive  that  he  survived  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  mission  of  the  Son  of  Man.  So  in 
those  centuries  of  ignorance  and  strife,which 
we  call  the  dark  ages,  it  was  the  definite, 
well  organized  ritual  of  the  church  which 
held  men  to  Christianity.  Here  was  some- 
thing definite  to  be  fought  for,  or  to  adhere 
to,  or  to  die  for.  The  ritual  was  a  husk  for 
the  preservation  of  the  true  faith,  until  its 
kernel  should  be  ready  for  the  harvest. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  too,  that  there 
are  souls  who  are  greatly  helped  by  ritual. 
It  uplifts  their  thought  and  fills  them  with 
moral  and  spiritual  enthusiasm.  Such  were 
many  of  the  later  psalmists,  who  chant  the 
praises  of  the  law.  If  it  could  create  such 
pure  religious  enthusiasm  in  such  devout 
souls,  it  must  have  had  some  useful  religious 
function.  We  must  not,  therefore,  deny  to 
those  who  still  need  the  external  aids  of 


THE    LEVITICAL   RITUAL  231 

incense  and  solemn  pomp  the  help  which 
they  find  in  them.  God  comes  to  different 
souls  through  different  avenues.  None 
should  be  satisfied  with  any  form,  however, 
but  should  know  that  God  really  visits  the 
heart,  and  finds  expression  in  the  life. 

"  Thy  litanies,  sweet  offices 
Of  love  and  gratitude  ; 
Thy  sacramental  liturgies, 
The  joy  of  doing  good. 

In  vain  shall  waves  of  incense  drift 

The  vaulted  nave  around, 
In  vain  the  minster  turret  lift 

Its  brazen  weights  of  sound. 

The  heart  must  ring  Thy  Christmas  bells, 

Thy  inward  altars  raise  ; 
Its  faith  and  hope  thy  canticles, 

And  its  obedience  praise  1 " 


CHAPTER  LI. 

JONAH. 

"  They  repented  at  the  preaching  of  Jonah ;  and 
behold,  a  greater  than  Jonah  is  here."  Luke  xi,  32. 

"  I  must  go  send  some  better  messenger." 

— Shakespeare. 

ISRAEL  in  the  early  days  had  thought  of 
Jehovah  as  the  God  of  that  nation  only. 
As  late  as  the  book  of  Micah  we  find  the 
gods  of  the  heathen  recognized  as  real 
deities.1  Even  earlier  than  that,  however, 
the  best  spirits  among  the  Hebrews  had 
caught  the  great  truth  that  one  God  controls 
all  nations,  and  that  He  is  Jehovah.  Amos 
is  the  first  to  distinctly  express  this  view. 
Down  to  the  time  of  the  exile  even  the 
prophets  continued,  nevertheless,  to  think 
that  God  cared  chiefly  for  Israel.  They 
represent  other  nations  as  existing  chiefly 
as  appendages  to  Israel.  The  exile  brought 
to  the  chosen  people  a  closer  acquaintance 
with  other  nations,  and  it  gradually  dawned 
upon  the  Hebrew  mind  that  God  cared  for 

'Micah  iv,  5. 

232 


JONAH  233 

other  nations  on  their  own  account  and  for 
their  own  worth,  and  that  Israel  was  chosen, 
not  that  she  might  be  the  exclusive  recipient 
of  the  divine  favor,  but  that  she  might  be  a 
missionary  among  the  nations. 

The  result  of  this  was  the  organization  of 
an  extensive  missionary  propaganda  on  the 
part  of  the  Jews,  for  the  prosecution  of  which 
a  considerable  missionary  literature  was 
created. 1  Naturally  there  were  many  of  the 
Jews  who  looked  askance  at  this  whole 
movement ;  in  its  early  stages  there  were 
many  who  opposed  it.  They  thought  it  was 
degrading  to  the  supreme  position  of  the 
chosen  people  to  suppose  that  anything  but 
destruction  could  await  the  heathen.  As  a 
satire  against  this  class,  the  book  of  Jonah 
was  written. 

The  author  represented  Israel  as  a  prophet, 
because  he  intended  to  hold  before  the  nation 
the  idea  that  God  would  have  them  carry 
His  message  to  the  world.  He  selected  the 
name  Jonah,  because  it  meant  "  dove  "  and 
would  be  eaily  understood  as  an  allegorical 

'SeeSchiirer's  History  of  the  Jewish  People  in  the  time  of  Jesus 
Christ,  Div.  II.  Vol.  II.  p.  220  ff,  or  Thatcher's  Apostolic  Church, 
ch.il. 


234  JONAH 

allusion  to  the  nation. J  Babylon  was  repre- 
sented as  a  monster  which  swallowed  and 
cast  up  Jonah,  because  the  book  of  Jeremiah 
had  already  made  that  figure  familiar  to  the 
Hebrews  as  a  picture  of  the  exile  and  the 
return.8  So  this  writer  wrote  his  parable  to 
teach,  that  Israel  was  carried  captive  for  not 
doing  her  proper  missionary  work,  and  that 
after  her  escape  from  captivity  she  did  it 
sullenly  and  in  anything  but  the  right 
spirit.3  When  interpreted  from  this  point 
of  view  the  book  becomes  a  most  interesting 
missionary  tract.  It  portrays  well  what  a 
missionary  or  a  missionary  people  should 
not  be,  and  by  contrast  sets  forth  the  ideal 
missionary  character.4 

It  was  this  feature — the  missionary  preach- 
ing of  Jonah — upon  which  our  Lord  seized 
as  a  sign  or  type  of  His  own  work, 6  and  we 


'That  it  was  also  the  name  of  a  prophet,  may  have  influenced  him 
too,  see  2  Kings  xiv,  25. 

'See  Jeremiah  11,  35, 44. 

•No  one  -with-  literary  feeling  can  read  this  book  in  connection 
with  Amos  and  Hosea  and  not  oe  convinced  that  it  comes  from  a 
very  different  age.  It  resembles  Esther,  Judith,  and  Tobit  much 
more  closely  in  style. 

*The  fact  that  Christ  refers  to  it  does  net  prove  that  it  is  not  an 
allegory.  He  often,  as  in  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son,  used  im- 
aginative material  as  parables. 

"Scholars  generally  recognize  that  Luke  gives  Christ's  real  teach- 
ing in  this  matter,  and  that  Matthew  is  mistaken  in  making  it  refer 
to  His  entombment. 


JONAH  235 

therefore  have  His  example  for  regarding  it 
in  this  light.  It  presents  as  the  ideal  that 
spirit  of  loving  service  for  all  the  world 
which  was  so  characteristic  of  Christ.  It 
caught  a  little  of  the  spirit  of  that  great 
commission  :  "Go  ye  therefore  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations,"  and  is  a  type  of 
that  Christlike  missionary  impulse,  which 
in  the  last  century  has  heard  the  cry  for 
release  from  error  coming 

"  From  Greenland's  icy  mountains, 

From  India's  coral  strand, 
Where  Africa's  sunny  fountains 
Roll  down  their  golden  sands," 

and  has  sought  to  meet  the  great  need  in 
the  Master's  way, — an  impulse  which  must 
go  forward  until  "  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord  and  of  His  Christ." 


CHAPTER  LJI. 

THE  PSALTER. 

"  Sing  us  one  of  the  songs  of  Zion."  Psalm  cxxxvii,  3. 

"And  so  the  shadows  fall  apart, 
And  so  the  west-winds  play  ; 
And  all  the  windows  of  my  heart 
I  open  to  the  day." 

—  Whittier. 

THE  Psalter  was  the  hymn-book  of  the 
second  temple.  While  it  contains  here  and 
there  psalms  which  were  composed  in  the 
days  before  the  exile,  those  psalms  were 
selected  because  they  expressed  the  hopes 
and  fears,  the  aspirations  and  the  faith  of 
the  post-exilic  days.  Compilers  of  hymn- 
books  always  allow  themselves  some  editor- 
ial liberty.  For  example,  Whittier  wrote 
for  election  day,  1842,  a  poem  entitled  "  De- 
mocracy," beginning  : 

"  Bearer  of  Freedom's  holy  light, 
Breaker  of  Slaverys"  chain  and  rod." 

If  I  remember  rightly,  it  was  Samuel  Long- 
fellow who  introduced  extracts  from  it  into  a 
hymnal  under  the  title  "  Christianity,"  and 

236 


THE   PSALTER  237 

with  various  editorial  changes  it  has  since 
found  its  way  under  this  title  into  many 
hymn-books.  Probably  the  editors  of  the 
psalter  allowed  themselves  similar  editorial 
liberties,  but  they  secured  a  work  which 
is  capable  of  expressing  the  religious  emo- 
tions of  the  world,  because  it  so  faithfully 
expressed  their  own. 

Readers  of  the  Revised  Version  will  have 
noticed  that  the  psalter  is  divided  into  five 
books.  These  books  were  collected  and  edited 
at  different  times  as  the  Moody  and  Sankey 
hymns  have  been  within  the  memory  of 
many  now  living.  The  first  of  these  collec- 
tions seems  to  have  been  made  in  the  time  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  and  was  named  after 
king  David.  The  second  and  third  were  com- 
posed by  putting  together  and  rearranging 
three  previously  existing  hymn-books,  which 
were  entitled  "The  Prayers  of  David,"  "The 
Psalms  of  Asaph,"  and  "  The  Psalms  of  the 
Sons  of  Korah,"  and  were  completed  by  the 
end  of  the  Persian  period,  about  330  B.  C. 
The  fourth  and  fifth  books  were  completed 
by  about  130  B.  C.,  and  include  some  Psalms 


238  THE   PSALTER 

from  the  Maccabaean  time.1  The  last  two 
books  have  incorporated  in  them  previously 
existing  smaller  hymn-books.  Thus  "The 
Songs  of  Ascent," — Psa.  cxx-cxxxiv, — is  a 
little  collection  of  songs  concerning  the 
return  from  Babylon. 

While  modern  study  of  the  psalms  has 
made  it  clear  that  we  can  trace  few  of  them 
back  to  David  in  their  present  form,  it  has 
also  made  it  very  clear  that  the  rich  relig- 
ious life  of  the  ancient  Jews  produced  many 
more  inspired  psalm-writers  than  we  had 
supposed.  God  still  speaks  to  us  in  these 
stirring  lyrics.  Through  them  He  teaches 
us  how  to  speak  to  Him.  We  know  them 
to  be  inspired,  not  because  we  can  connect 
them  with  the  pen  of  this  or  that  heroic 
figure,  but  because  they  still  bring  inspiring 
messages  to  our  spirits. 

The  psalter  is  a  type  of  the  varied  relig- 
ious life  of  modern  Christendom,  just  as  it  is 


1  On  the  composition  of  the  Psalter,  see  an  article  by  the  writer  in 
The  American  Journal  of  Theology,  Vol.  iii,  pp.  740-746,  and  W. 
Robertson  Smith's  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church,  2  ed. 
N.  Y.  Appleton's  1892,  ch.  vii.  The  titles  of  the  Psalms  were  added 
by  editors,  and  in  most  cases  were  hasty  guesses,  which  are  often 
inconsistent  with  the  contents  of  the  Psalm.  Thus,  Ps.  li,  is  ascribed 
to  David  by  the  title,  while  v.  18  shows  it  to  come  from  the  exile.  The 
real  value  of  the  titles  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  give  ua  the  history  of 
the  compilation  of  the  psalter. 


THE   PSALTER  239 

a  mirror  of  the  religious  life  of  these  centu- 
ries of  post-exilic  Judaism.  Here  and  there 
human  passion  speaks  plainly  and  without 
disguise,  as  in  "  Happy  shall  he  be,  who 
taketh  and  dasheth  thy  little  ones  against 
the  rock,"  giving  us  a  pure  cry  for  unsanc- 
tified  revenge.  We  cannot,  however,  judge 
the  author  too  harshly,  for,  though  the  sen- 
timent is  certainly  unchristian,  it  has  often 
found  historic  expression  among  those  who 
have  professed  Christianity,  and  frequently 
flames  up  unbidden  in  the  breast  of  many  a 
Christian  still.  The  same  must  be  said  of 
other  imprecatory  psalms  ;  they  are  imper- 
fect, but  they  are  still  types  of  our  imperfect 
Christianity. 

On  the  other  hand  the  psalter  is  the  mir- 
ror of  a  religious  faith,  a  sensitiveness  to  sin, 
a  yearning  after  God,  and  a  joy  in  forgive- 
ness, which  the  best  spiritual  life  of  Christ- 
endom as  yet  scarcely  equals,  and  this 
Jewish  expression  of  which  we  are  often 
glad  to  make  our  own.  In  our  hours  of 
doubt  we  still  find  courage  in  the  self-exhor- 
tation : 

•  Ps.  cxxxvii,  9. 


240  THE   PSALTER 

"  Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul  ? 
Why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  ? 
Hope  thou  in  God  :  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him." 

In  our  hours  of  faith  no  words  express 
our  serene  confidence  so  well  as  : 

"  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd, 
I  shall  not  want." 

When  conscious  of  inward  guilt  no  prayer, 
unless  it  be  that  of  the  publican,  springs 
more  spontaneously  to  our  lips  than  the 
psalmist's  cry  : 

1 '  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God 
And  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me." 

And  when  the  happiness  of  forgiveness 
breaks  upon  the  soul  one  loves  to  sing  with 
another  psalmist : 

"  Oh,   the  happiness  of  him  whose  transgression  is 

forgiven, 
Whose  sin  is  pardoned  !  "  l 

And  as  one  closes  his  eyes  on  life,  no  more 
sublime  expression  of  that  faith  which  con- 
quers the  grave  can  come  to  his  lips  than  : 

"Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  death- 
shade, 
I  will  fear  no  evil ;  for  thou  art  with  me." 

To  live  up  to  these  highest  expressions  of 
the  old  Jewish  hymn-book  is  to  be  a  pure 
Christian. 


1  According  to  the  Hebrew. 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

SATAN. 

"  I  beheld  Satan  fallen  as  lightning  from  heaven." 

Luke  x,  18. 

"  Him  the  almighty  Power 
HurPd  headlong  flaming  from  th'  ethereal  sky, 
With  hideous  ruin  and  combustion,  down 
To  bottomless  perdition,  there  to  dwell 
In  adamantine  chains  and  penal  fire, 
Who  durst  defy  th'  Omnipotent  to  arms." 

— Milton, 

THE  problem  of  evil  is  one  which  has  at- 
tracted the  thought  of  saints  and  sages  in  all 
ages,  and  has  received  many  different 
answers.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  think  of 
Satan  as  the  originator  of  evil,  that  the  fact 
that  a  considerable  course  of  the  Biblical 
narrative  had  passed  before  the  figure  of 
Satan  appears  in  it,  does  not  strike  many  a 
reader  of  the  Bible  at  all.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  identify  the  serpent  of  Genesis  with 
Satan,  but  the  Hebrews  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment period  did  not  do  so.  To  them  the 
serpent  was  merely  an  unusually  acute 

241 


242  SATAN 

animal.1  This  serpent  was  first  identified 
with  Satan  in  the  apocryphal  book,  "  The 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,"  which  was  written 
in  the  first  century ,2B.  C. 

The  earlier  Hebrew  thought  had  no  need 
for  Satan.  The  sovereignty  of  God  was  so 
absolutely  accepted  that  He  was  believed  to 
be  the  author  of  both  good  and  evil.  Thus 
King  Saul  was  thought  to  be  troubled  by  an 
evil  spirit  from  Jehovah  ;3  Jehovah  was 
thought  to  have  tempted  David  to  sin  ;* 
Jehovah  sent,  it  is  said,  a  lying  spirit  to 
tempt  Ahab  to  his  death  ;5  Amos  exclaimed  : 
"  Shall  evil  befall  a  city  and  Jehovah  hath 
not  done  it?"6  while  the  great  prophet  of 
the  exile  pictured  Jehovah  as  saying  to  Him- 
self:  "  I  make  peace,  and  create  evil."1 

It  was  not  until  about  the  time  of  the 
exile  that  it  began  to  become  inconsistent 
with  the  Hebrew  thought  of  God,  to  think 
of  Him  as  the  author  of  evil.  It  is  then 
that  the  figure  of  Satan  begins  to  appear  in 
the  Biblical  books.  It  is  first  found  in  the 
book  of  Job.8  Satan  is  there  represented  as 

1See  the  writer's  Semitic  Origins,  pp.  93,  96.  »Ch.  ii,  23,  24. 
»1  Sam.  xvi,  14.  *2  Sam.  xxir,  1.  »1  Kings,  xxil,  20-23.  •Amos.iii.e. 
JIsa.  xlv,  7.  »2  Ch».  i,  ii. 


SATAN  243 

still  an  angel  in  the  heavenly  court,  but  he 
is  a  dissatisfied,  an  unhappy,  a  disgruntled 
angel.  He  doubts  human  virtue  ;  he  be- 
lieves that  every  man  has  his  price;  and 
receives  permission  to  worry  Job.  In  the 
book  of  Zechariah  Satan  appears  as  the  op- 
ponent of  Joshua,  the  high  priest ;  and  in 
the  narrative  of  David's  census,  where 
Samuel  says  that  Jehovah  incited  David  to 
number  the  people,  Chronicles  says  it  was 
Satan. *  No  other  mention  of  him  occurs  in 
the  Old  Testament.8 

In  the  book  of  Enoch  evil  is  thought 
to  have  been  introduced  into  the  world  by 
the  angels,  who,  in  the  sixth  of  Genesis,  are 
said  to  have  come  to  earth  and  married 
human  wives.3  It  is  one  of  these,  Gadreel 
by  name,  who  was  thought  to  have  tempted 
Eve.4  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  as  we  have 
noted,  represents  Satan  as  the  tempter  in 
Eden,  and  this  view  seems  to  have  prevailed 
among  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament. 
The  view  of  Enoch,  that  the  tempter  was  a 
fallen  angel,  has  been  widely  accepted  in 


*1  Chron.  ixi,  1.    2In  Ps.  cix,  6,  the  word  refers  to  a  human  adver- 
sary.   'See  Enoch  vi-xi.    *Enoch  Ixiz,  9. 


244  SATAN 

Christian  theology,  and  has  received  im- 
mortal expression  in  the  great  poem  of 
Milton. 

At  the  time  of  Christ  it  was  generally  be- 
lieved that  Satan  was  the  author  of  evil  in 
the  world,  and  just  as  Christ  spoke  the 
language  of  the  people  in  referring  to  the 
insane  as  possessed  of  demons,  so  He  used 
their  language  in  speaking  of  Satan. 

The  belief  in  one,  or  in  many,  evil  spirits, 
does  not,  however,  solve  the  problem  of  evil, 
or  relieve  God  of  responsibility  for  it.  Un- 
less one  believes  with  the  Persians,  and  with 
the  early  Christian  Gnostics,  that  Satan  is  a 
second  God,  and  is  independent  of  God,  it 
must  be  recognized  that  he  exercises  his 
baneful  activity  by  divine  permission.  No 
one  can  be  a  Biblical  Christian  and  not  re- 
cognize God  as  the  one  supreme,  all-powerful 
Being.  He  must  permit  evil  in  the  world, 
because  He  sees  that  somehow  greater  good 
will  in  the  end  result  from  the  conditions 
which  make  evil  possible.  He  has  disclosed 
to  us  His  heart  of  love  in  Christ.  Though 
we  may  not  be  able  to  understand  His  ways 
in  this  matter,  we  can  trust  Him,  can  believe 


SATAN  245 

that  He  is  wise,  can  seek  to  get  the  best  out 
of  the  conditions  in  which  He  has  placed 
us,  and  can  thus  become  possessed  through 
Christ  of  a  positive  character,  godlike  in  its 
quality. 

The  words  of  the  Master,  quoted  at  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter,  hold  before  us  the 
Savior's  promise  that  evil  will  be  overcome. 
God,  not  Satan,  is  supreme ;  goodness,  not 
sin,  is  to  prevail ;  truth,  not  falsehood,  is 
eternal.  "  Fight,"  then,  "  the  good  fight  of 
faith."  "  He  that  overcometh,  I  will  give 
to  him  to  sit  down  with  Me  in  My  throne." 


CHAPTER  LIV. 

INTERNATIONAL  PEACE.1 

"Love  your  enemies."    Matt,  v,  44. 

"  Peace,  thy  olive  wand  extend, 
And  bid  wild  war  his  ravage  end, 
Man  with  his  brother  man  to  meet, 
And  as  a  brother  kindly  greet." 

— Burns. 

IN  the  actual  world  warfare  and  struggle 
seem  to  be  perfectly  natural.  Biologists 
teach  us  that  it  is  by  means  of  these  that 
animal  life  has  been  pushed  forward  to  its 
present  degree  of  perfection.  Man  is  from 
one  standpoint  a  member  of  the  animal 
kingdom.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  his  de- 
velopment he  has  necessarily  been  pushed 
forward  by  the  same  processes  which  have 
moulded  all  animal  life.  He  cannot  be  led 
forward  by  the  lofty  ideals  which  inspire  by 
their  brightness  and  purity  until  he  can 
appreciate  something  of  their  beauty  and 
sublimity.  Until  then,  like  his  fellows 
in  the  animal  realm,  he  must  be  pushed 

1  Part  of  a  paper  read  at  the  Friends'  Peace  Conference  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1901,  and  afterward  published  in  the  Friends?  Intelli- 
gencer and  the  Biblical  World. 


INTERNATIONAL   PEACE  247 

forward  by  the  blind  forces  of  struggle  and 
survival.  To  discover  the  elements  of  a 
peace  doctrine  in  the  Old  Testament,  we 
must  discover  the  power  to  appreciate  the 
great  religious  truths  on  which  it  rests. 
Those  truths  are  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  and 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  Until  men  have 
clearly  understood  that  God  is  the  God  of 
all  men,  and  that  it  is  as  wrong  to  injure  a 
stranger  as  a  brother,  because  both  are  the 
children  of  the  same  Father,  no  peace  doc- 
trine is  possible  to  men. 

Now,  in  the  early  days  of  Israel's  national 
life  the  necessary  religious  foundation  for 
this  truth  had  not  been  laid.  Each  tribe, 
or,  at  the  most,  each  nation,  had  its  god. 
Each  nation  thought  it  must  worship  its 
own  god,  but  it  in  no  wise  denied  the  reality 
of  the  gods  of  other  nations.  These  gods 
were  thought  of  as  larger  men,  ready  to  fight 
with  one  another,  or  to  overreach  one  an- 
other in  all  the  ways  which  men  would  do. 
This  applies  to  the  early  history  of  Israel  as 
truly  as  to  that  of  other  ancient  peoples. 
When  David  was  temporarily  driven  from 
his  native  land  and  had  to  take  refuge  in 


248  INTERNATIONAL   PEACE 

Moab,  we  hear  him  complaining :  "  They 
have  driven  me  out  this  day  that  I  should 
not  cleave  unto  the  inheritance  of  Jehovah, 
saying,  Go  serve  other  gods,"  (1  Sam.  xxvi, 
19).  Jehovah's  power  was,  he  seemed  to 
think,  limited  to  Palestine,  and,  when  on 
foreign  soil,  he  naturally  supposed  he  must 
worship  a  foreign  god.  This  accounts  for 
the  fact  that  David  practiced  such  barbari- 
ties upon  conquered  enemies  (2  Sam.  xii, 
31).  From  his  religious  point  of  view 
these  enemies  had  no  rights.  Obviously 
in  such  an  age  the  peace  doctrine  could 
find  no  root. 

In  Amos,  the  first  of  the  literary  prophets, 
we  find  a  broader  outlook,  both  as  regards 
the  extent  of  God's  rule  over  the  nations, 
and  as  regards  the  barbarities  of  war.  He 
perceived  that  Jehovah  controlled  all  na- 
tions ;  Jehovah  brought  the  Philistines  from 
Caphtor  and  the  Aramaeans  from  Kir,  as 
well  as  Israel  from  Egypt,  (Amos  ix,  7).  It 
is  Amos,  too,  the  possessor  of  this  breadth  of 
religious  vision,  who  condemned  that  viola- 
tion of  treaties,  that  barbarity  to  women,  and 
that  disregard  of  the  sacredness  of  death, 


INTEKNATIONAL   PEACE  249 

which  are  so  characteristic  of  war,  (see  Amos 
i,  9;  i,  13;  ii.  1). 

It  takes  in  any  age  a  long  time  for  a 
higher  ideal  to  win  its  way,  and  that  was 
true  of  Israel  as  well  as  of  others.  Isaiah 
sang  of  the  birth  of  the  "  Prince  of  peace," 
but  in  a  language  which  is  much  obscured 
in  our  common  versions  of  the  Bible,  and 
which  is  so  enshrined  in  the  affections  of 
the  Christian  world,  that  one  hesitates  to 
disturb  it  even  in  the  interest  of  the  truth. 
When  Isaiah's  language  is  really  under- 
stood, however,  it  differs  but  little  from  the 
hard  standards  of  the  age  of  war.  That 
Prince,  as  Isaiah  conceived  him,  was  to  be 
a  "  Wonderful  plotter,  a  very  god  of  a  war- 
rior, and  a  father  of  booty,"  before  he  was 
"  prince  of  peace."  In  other  words,  Isaiah's 
conception  is  still  the  conception  of  a  con- 
queror ;  the  peace  which  this  passage  pic- 
tured was  such  as  Kitchener  is  making  in 
South  Africa. 

At  another  time  Isaiah  had  a  more  attrac- 
tive vision.  In  the  eleventh  chapter  of  his 
prophecy,  when  describing  the  Messianic 
kingdom,  he  sang  of  a  time  when 


250  INTERNATIONAL   PEACE 

"The  wolf  will  lodge  with  the  lamb, 
The  leopard  lie  down  with  the  kid, 
The  calf  and  the  young  lion  graze  together, 
And  a  little  child  will  lead  them." 

This  language  is  no  doubt  figurative.  The 
prophet  pictured  under  these  animal  forms 
the  way  in  which  human  passion  was  to 
become  harmless.  It  is  not  clear,  how- 
ever, whether  his  thought  embraced  the 
world  in  this  Utopia  of  peace,  or  whether  he 
confined  it  to  the  kingom  of  Israel.  The 
words  which  immediately  follow  favor  the 
latter  view. 

Such  religious  conceptions  as  those  of 
Amos  were,  nevertheless,  bound  to  bear 
fruit.  Under  the  influence  of  the  prophets 
the  old  laws  were  recast  and  king  Josiah 
instituted  a  reform  on  their  basis.  We  now 
possess  this  work  in  our  book  of  Deuter- 
onomy. It  is  characterized  by  a  large 
humanitarian  element.1  It  sought  to  soften 
the  rugged  features  of  the  hard  life  of  ancient 
times.  It  instituted  laws  in  behalf  of  the 
poor,  in  behalf  of  slaves,  who  were  usually 
the  captives  taken  in  war,  and  even  in 

1  See  Kent's  "  Humanitarian  element  in  the  Old  Testament  legis- 
lation "  In  Biblical  World,  for  Oct.,  1901. 


INTERNATIONAL    PEACE  251 

behalf  of  animals.  In  its  treatment  of  war 
itself  there  is  a  milder,  more  human  and 
reasonable  note  than  one  is  accustomed  to 
find  in  antiquity.1  Of  the  Levitical  code 
which  came  into  its  present  form  even  later, 
though  many  of  its  laws  are  old,  the  same 
may  also  be  said.2  If  it  seems  to  limit  the 
sympathies  of  Israel  at  times  by  enforcing 
kindness  towards  members  of  that  race  par- 
ticularly, it  also  commands  the  Hebrew  to 
love  the  resident  alien  as  himself,  (Lev.  xix, 
17,  18).  When  we  remember  that  the  resi- 
dent alien  was  usually  a  captive  of  war,  we 
can  see  how  beneficently  the  teaching  of 
prophets  like  Amos  was  taking  effect.  The 
idea  that  there  was  but  one  God  and  He  the 
God  of  all  men,  was  producing  a  new  con- 
ception of  humanity  fatal  to  the  spirit  of  war. 
In  no  book  of  the  Old  Testament  does 
this  leavening  doctrine,  that  God  cares  for 
all  men,  and  its  corollary,  that  mercy  is  due 
to  all,  shine  out  more  clearly  than  in  the 
book  of  Jonah,  but  we  have  been  so  occu- 
pied in  quarreling  about  Jonah's  whale  that 


1  See  Deut.  xx,  and  cf.  Goldwin  Smith  in  Independent  of  Aug.  22, 
1901,  p.  1959  ff.     "  See  Kent  in  Biblical  World,  NOT.,  1901. 


252  INTERNATIONAL   PEACE 

the  significance  of  the  message  of  the  book 
has  escaped  us.  The  book  was  written  to 
enforce  the  great  truths  that  God's  care  ex- 
tends to  all  men,  that  He  chose  Israel  not 
for  her  own  sake  merely,  but  to  bear  His 
message  of  warning,  of  righteousness,  and  of 
mercy  to  the  world,  and  that  even  the  worst 
of  Israel's  enemies  who  become  His  people 
may  find  mercy  with  God.  The  kindli- 
ness of  God  extends  to  all  nations ;  the 
spirit  of  helpful  sympathy  should  prevail 
toward  them  in  the  hearts  of  His  worship- 
pers,— this  is  the  message  of  this  unique 
book,  and  it  is  a  message  calculated  to  extir- 
pate the  spirit  of  selfishness  and  narrow- 
ness from  which  all  war  springs. 

The  climax  of  Old  Testament  thought  in 
this  respect  is  reached  in  that  little  prophecy, 
found  both  in  the  second  chapter  of  Isaiah 
and  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Micah,  the 
origin  of  which  is  a  puzzle.  Was  it  com- 
posed by  Isaiah,  by  Micah,  or  by  some 
unknown  prophet?  Perhaps  the  latter  is 
the  correct  view,  and  from  this  unknown 
seer  it  may  have  been  introduced  by  editors 
into  the  positions  in  the  books  of  Isaiah  and 


INTERNATIONAL    PEACE  253 

Micah,  where  it  now  stands.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  in  its  inspired  utterance  we  have  for 
the  first  time  an  adequate  expression  of 
what  a  real  monotheism  means  for  the 
world.  "  The  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house 
shall  be  established  on  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tains and  exalted  above  the  hills."  "  Many 
nations  shall  give  Him  their  allegiance  ; 
His  word  shall  rule  them;  He  shall  judge 
between  many  peoples  and  decide  concern- 
ing strong  nations  afar  off :  and  they  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  plow-shares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruning  hooks  ;  nation  shall  not 
lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall 
they  learn  war  any  more."  One  God  for 
all  nations,  hence  one  brotherhood  among 
men,  and  a  universal  peace  on  earth.  This 
is  the  only  logical  view  for  a  monotheist, 
and  is  the  inevitable  result  of  a  belief  in  one 
God.  Such  is  the  strength  of  old  custom, 
especially  of  custom  consecrated  by  religious 
sanction  and  rooted  in  human  passion,  that 
this  prophetic  vision  did  not  make  a  deep 
impression  on  the  prophet's  contemporaries, 
but  nevertheless  the  beautiful  picture  of 
international  amity,  clearly  drawn  against 


254  INTERNATIONAL   PEACE 

the  dark  background  of  a  savage  antiquity, 
anticipated  by  two  millenniums  the  vision 
of  our  modern  poet,  who  sang  : 

"  Evil  shall  cease  and  Violence  pass  away, 
And  the  tired  world  breathe  free  through  a  long 
Sabbath  day." 

Viewed  in  the  manner  here  indicated, 
the  Old  Testament  affords  a  basis  for  the 
peace  doctrine,  both  because  it  exhibits  the 
fact  that  war  springs  from  the  animal  side 
of  human  nature,  and  is  fostered  only  by  a 
conception  of  God  so  limited  as  to  be  but 
little  removed  from  heathenism ;  and  be- 
cause it  reveals  the  fact  that  the  doctrine  of 
monotheism  cannot  be  really  held  without 
creating  in  mens'  minds  an  abhorrence  of  the 
barbarities  of  war,  and  inspiring  visions  of 
a  universal  peace.  The  former  element, 
though  painfully  apparent,  is  a  waning  or 
diminishing  element ;  the  latter,  as  revela- 
tion in  its  progress  nears  the  Central  Figure 
in  human  history,  clearly  appears  as  the 
increasing  and  triumphant  element,  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  the  teaching  of  Him  who 
not  only  prohibited  killing,  but  even  the 
hatred  of  a  brother,  and  who  enjoined  upon 
His  followers  the  love  of  enemies. 


CHAPTER  LV. 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

"Thy  kingdom  come."     Matt,  vi,  10. 

"  Come,  in  this  accepted  hour ; 

Bring  Thy  heavenly  kingdom  in  ; 
Fill  us  with  Thy  glorious  power, 
Rooting  out  the  seeds  of  sin," 

— Charles  Wesley. 

THE  remark  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  that 
"  That  is  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but 
that  which  is  natural;  then  that  which  is 
spiritual,"  is  aptly  illustrated  by  the  unfold- 
ing of  many  phases  of  spiritual  life  and 
thought,  but  by  none  more  aptly  than  by 
the  conceptions  concerning  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  In  prophets,  like  Hosea 
and  Isaiah,  an  expectation  is  expressed  that 
a  Messianic  kingdom,  glorious  as  that  of 
David,  and  in  which  perfect  justice  shall 
abound,  will  come.  The  kingdom,  which 
they  expected  is  clearly  an  external,  earthly 
monarchy.  This  ideal  continued  for  some 
centuries  to  be  the  hope  of  the  pious  Israel- 
ites. The  faithful  of  these  generations  were 
content  to  endure  hardships  themselves,  if 

255 


256         THE   COMING   OF   THE   KINGDOM 

only  their  descendants  could  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

As  the  centuries  dragged  themselves  along, 
however,  and  the  realization  of  the  hope 
was  deferred,  it  gradually  came  about  that 
the  hearts  of  the  faithful  were  not  satisfied 
that  they  themselves  should  suffer,  while  all 
the  felicity  was  to  be  reaped  by  generations 
yet  unborn.  By  this  time  the  doctrine  of 
immortality  had  grown  up  among  the 
Hebrews,  and  this  came  to  the  aid  of  these 
devout  souls.  They  might  die  before  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom,  but  they  would  be 
raised  to  share  in  its  blessings.1 

During  these  centuries  another  influence 
had  also  been  at  work.  Hebrews  had 
learned  from  Babylonians  the  art  of  pictur- 
ing their  history  in  the  terms  of  the  conflict 
of  Bel  and  the  dragon, — that  conflict  by 
which  the  Babylonians  believed  the  creation 
of  the  world  had  been  made  possible.8  Under 
the  influence  of  this  method  of  conceiving 


1This  hope  is  expressed  in  Dan.  xii,  2, 3.  "The  writer  has  outlined 
this  in  more  detail  in  the  New  World,  March,  1899,  p.  120  ff.,  the 
American  Journal  of  Theology  Vol.  II.  p.  782  ff.,  and  the  Journal 
of  Biblical  Literature,  Vol.  xvii,  p.  80  ff.  See  also  the  articles 
"Apocalyptic  Literature "  In  Hasting's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible 
and  the  Encyc.  Biblica . 


THE  COMING  OE  THE  KINGDOM    257 

history,  the  coming  of  the  Messianic  king- 
dom gradually  assumed  for  the  Jew  the 
aspect  of  a  supernatural  conflict.  God  took 
the  place  of  Bel1  in  the  allegory,  and  the 
evil  world  which  was  united  against  the 
Hebrews,  the  place  of  the  dragon  which  was 
to  be  conquered.  One  of  the  earliest  repre- 
sentations of  this  is  in  the  seventh  chapter 
of  Daniel,  where  the  kingdom  is  pictured  as 
coming  supernaturally  in  the  clouds.  An- 
other is  in  the  second  of  Daniel,  where  it  is 
represented  as  a  stone  cut  out  of  the  moun- 
tain without  hands.  When  once  this  super- 
natural conception  had  taken  hold  of  the 
imagination,  the  marvellous  elements  in  it 
were  gradually  heightened,  as  they  -are  in 
the  book  of  Enoch8  and  the  Psalter  of  Solo- 
mon.3 The  central  thought  was  still  the 
hope  of  earthly  empire,  but  that  empire  was 
to  be  introduced  by  such  a  supernatural 
cataclysm  that  none  of  Israel's  enemies  could 
escape  slaughter. 

When  Christ  began  to  teach,  this  was  the 
prevalent  Messianic  conception.  The  atti- 
tude which  He  took  towards  it,  has  already 

1Also  called  Marduk  and  Merodacb.    *See  Enoch,  chs.  xlvi-llv. 
"Especially  Psalter  of  Solomon  rvii. 


258         THE   COMING    OF   THE   KINGDOM 

been  described.1  He  was  to  be  King  of  the 
truth  ;  His  kingdom,  a  spiritual  kingdom. 
In  speaking  of  it  to  His  disciples  He  used 
some  of  the  old  terms,  but  in  doing  so  He 
gave  them  a  new  meaning.  That  meaning 
the  disciples  did  not  understand ;  they 
understood  His  words,  which  were  really 
freighted  with  a  spiritual  meaning,  to  refer  to 
the  external  kingdom,  of  which  their  ances- 
tors had  been  accustomed  to  think.  Al- 
though He  declared  :  "  The  kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you,"8  they  repeated  His  utter- 
ances as  though  they  referred  to  an  external 
empire,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  many  modern 
scholars,  confused  some  of  them  with  a  Jew- 
ish apocalypse.3  When  He  ascended  they, 
therefore,  thought  that  He  had  simply  been 
taken  up  for  a  time,  and  that  He  would 
afterward  return  to  earth  again  to  destroy 
the  enemies  of  Israel,  and  to  establish  this 
earthly  empire.  Indeed,  one  of  the  Jewish 
traditions  concerning  their  Messiah  was  that 
He  should  be  born  on  the  earth  and  caught 


1Above  ch.  viii.  *Luke  xvii,  21.  sThe  passages  in  question  are 
parts  of  Matt,  xxiv,  Mark  xiii,  and  Luke  xxi.  See  Charles,  Escka- 
tology,  Hebrew,  Jewish  and  Christian,  p.  323  fl.,  and  Briggs, 
Messiah  of  the  Gospels,  ch.  iv. 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   KINGDOM         259 

up  to  heaven  for  a  time,  until  the  hour  for 
His  revelation  should  come.  Their  Jewish 
training  had  accordingly  prepared  the  dis- 
ciples to  hold  just  the  view  of  the  second 
coming  of  Christ,  which  we  find  reflected  in 
parts  of  the  New  Testament. 

Paul,  who  had  been  trained  as  a  Jewish 
rabbi,  when  he  wrote  the  epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians  still  held  this  Jewish  view. 
Jesus  had  been  taken  up  for  a  time,  he 
taught,  but  would  return  soon  to  establish 
this  kingdom.  Paul's  conception  differed 
from  the  current  Jewish  conception  only  in 
the  fact  that  he  held  Jesus  to  be  the  Mes- 
siah, while  they  did  not. 

Riper  experience  in  the  Christian  life, 
however,  led  Paul  to  abandon  this  view.  In 
2  Corinthians,  the  conception  that  the  dead 
sleep  in  the  underworld  until  the  second 
coming  of  Christ,  which  he  entertained  at 
the  time  he  wrote  to  the  Thessalonians, 1  was 
abandoned.2  When  he  wrote  to  the  Ro- 
mans a  little  later,  he  had  apparently  given 
up  the  conception  of  an  external  kingdom, 


i  See  1  Thes.  iv,  13-18.     »  See  2  Cor.  y,  6-8.  Compare  New  World, 
March,  1899,  p.  123. 


260    THE  COMING  OF  THE  KINGDOM 

and  declared :  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not 
eating  and  drinking,  but  righteousness  and 
peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  *  This 
faith  continued  to  abide  with  Paul.2  It  was 
thus  a  Christian  experience  of  years  in 
length,  which  finally  convinced  him  of  the 
spiritual  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
of  the  spiritual  nature  of  its  coming. 

The  Gospel  of  John  reports  discourses  of 
Christ  in  which  He  Himself  teaches  the 
spiritual  nature  of  His  coming.  There  is  in 
this  Gospel  no  picture  of  a  violent  coming 
to  destroy  enemies,  in  a  way  which  it 
would  be  sinful  for  men  to  imitate,  but  the 
Master  several  times  equates  His  return  to 
them  with  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
He  passes  back  and  forth  in  His  language 
from  Himself  to  the  Holy  Spirit  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  it  clear  that  His  return  to 
comfort  them  — the  return  which  the  world 
is  not  to  behold,  but  which  will  make  Him 
manifest  to  the  disciples — is  His  return  in 
the  Holy  Spirit.3  In  Paul,  then,  and  in  the 
Gospel  of  John,  we  reach  at  last  Christians 
who  are  capable  of  grasping  the  Master's 

1  Rom.  xiv,  17.   »  Philippines  i,  23.   »  John  xiv,  16-18,  and  xvi,7-21 


THE   COMING    OF   THE   KINGDOM         261 

thought  upon  this  point.  The  Jewish  husk 
they  have  shaken  off;  the  spiritual  flower 
is  revealed. 

This,  therefore,  is  the  great  truth  con- 
cerning the  coming  of  the  kingdom  :  Christ 
will  make  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  His 
just  as  rapidly  as  men  will  let  Him  make 
their  hearts  His.  Every  heart  purified  and 
vitalized  by  Christ,  is  a  step  taken  in  advance 
in  the  coming  of  the  kingdom.  When  we 
pray  :  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  our  prayer  is 
a  mockery  unless  we  are  really  willing  that 
the  divine  Spirit  shall  come  and  rule  our 
hearts.  The  prayer  :  "  Thy  will  be  done," 
is  vain  unless  we  are  willing  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  which  enjoins  eternal  right  and  jus- 
tice toward  all.  When  men  have  been  won 
to  Christ,  so  that  the  world  is  filled  with 
brave,  pure,  tender,  Christlike  hearts,  the 
kingdom  of  God  will  have  come.  Social 
injustice  will  then  disappear.  Violence  will 
pass  away.  "  The  wolf  and  the  lamb  will 
lie  down  together." 

"  Amen  :  come,  Lord  Jesus  ! " 


CHAPTER  LVI 

THE  CITY  OF  GOD. 

"  He  looked  for  the  city  which  hath  foundations, 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God."  Hebrews  xi,  10. 

"  O  sweet  and  blessed  country, 

The  home  of  God's  elect  1 
O  sweet  and  blessed  country, 
That  eager  hearts  expect!  " 

Tr.  /.  M.  Neave. 

As  the  early  Semites  wandered  across  the 
Arabian  desert,  where  a  scorching  sun 
parched  the  sandy  wastes,  and  approached 
an  oasis,  they  felt  that  they  were  approach- 
ing a  place  where  a  god  had  his  dwelling. 
In  a  land  so  arid  they  believed  that  only 
supernatural  power  could  produce  such 
verdure,  such  refreshing  shade,  and  such 
fruitage.  From  these  Semites  the  Hebrews 
were  descended,  and  the  oasis  of  more  prim- 
itive times  became  their  Eden,  or  garden  of 
God.1  From  that  Eden  man  had  been  ex- 
pelled by  his  disobedience  to  God. 

As  the  hope  of  an  immortal  life  and  of  a 
kingdom  of  God  grew  in  Israelitish  hearts, 

1  See  the  writer's  Semitic  Origins,  pp.  93-96. 

262 


THE   CITY    OF   GOD  263 

they  often  tried  to  picture  to  themselves  the 
land  where  that  hope  was  to  be  realized.  It 
was  then  very  natural  that  the  thoughts  of 
men  should  return  to  the  garden  of  God, 
from  which  man  had  fallen.  It  was  not, 
they  came  to  think,  a  thing  of  the  past  alto- 
gether, but  might  be  attained  by  the  right- 
eous in  the  future  too.  "  They  shall  not 
hunger  nor  thirst ;  neither  shall  the  heat 
nor  the  sun  smite  them  :  for  He  that  hath 
mercy  on  them  will  lead  them,  by  springs 
of  water  will  He  guide  them/'  J  sang  the 
great  prophet  of  the  exile.  He  had  in  mind 
the  striking  contrast  presented  by  a  shady, 
fertile  oasis  with  the  burning  desert.  So  also 
in  the  book  of  Enoch,  when  it  was  thought 
that  the  good  would  be  raised  for  a  future 
life  of  five  hundred  years,2  their  home  was 
pictured  as  a  garden  containing  a  palm 
tree.3 

In  the  days  after  the  Babylonian  exile 
another  conception  of  the  heavenly  abode 
arose.  The  love  of  the  pious  Jews  had  cen- 
tred so  long  upon  Jerusalem,  that  they 


1  Isaiah  xlix,  10.        "Ethiopia  Enoch  x,  10        3  Ethiopic  Enoch 
xxiv,  xxv. 


264  THE   CITY   OF  GOD 

conceived  of  the  abode  of  the  blest  as  a  new 
Jerusalem  more  splendid  and  beautiful  than 
the  old,  but  patterned  upon  it.  This  is  the 
view  expressed  in  the  psalms  of  the  Phari- 
sees, called  the  "Psalter  of  Solomon."1  In 
the  new  Testament  book  of  Revelation,  to 
which  we  instinctively  turn  for  impressive 
imagery  of  heaven,  both  views  are  combined. 
In  one  passage  the  picture  of  the  trans- 
figured oasis  is  borrowed  from  the  book  of 
Isaiah  and  is  still  further  transfigured. 
Neither  sun  nor  heat  is  to  smite  the  saved, 
but  the  lamb  is  to  guide  them  to  living 
waters,  and  God  is  to  wipe  away  all  tears 
from  their  eyes.2  In  another  passage  the 
New  Jerusalem  is  pictured.  It  is  a  city,  each 
gate  of  which  is  a  splendid  Jewel.3  A  little 
further  on  we  are  told  that  the  garden  is  in 
the  midst  of  the  city,  for  it  contains  the  old 
tree  of  life,  which  yields  its  fruit  every 
month.4  Eden  and  Jerusalem  are  here 
blended  into  one  picture.  The  two  best 
abodes  the  Jews  ever  imagined  are  united 
and  glorified  to  express  the  unutterable. 


1  Psalter  of  Solomon  xYil.      *  Rev.vii,  15, 16.     3  Rev.  xxi.     *  Rev 
xxii,  1, 2. 


THE   CITY   OF  GOD  265 

All  these  conceptions  are  the  foreshadow- 
ings  of  spiritual  facts.  The  city  of  God  is 
really  in  the  character  of  His  children.  Eden 
is  in  the  heart.  It  is  not  so  much  the  place 
to  which  we  go  in  the  future,  as  the  char- 
acter we  carry  with  us  which  determines 
our  happiness.  God  no  doubt  has  a  proper 
abode  for  His  departed  saints,  but  we  can 
form  little  conception  of  it  from  the  barbaric 
splendor  of  oriental  symbolism. 

"  The  mind  is  in  its  own  place,  and  in  itself 
Can  make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven." 

The  spiritual  significance  of  this  symbol- 
ism is  this :  God  will  give  His  faithful  chil- 
dren a  life  in  which  the  burning  heat  of  pas- 
sion shall  not  wither  the  life  on  the  arid  sands 
of  sin,  but  in  which  the  heart  shall  be  re- 
freshed by  the  living  spirit  of  the  Master, 
and  shall  make  its  own  Eden  within  it  and 
about  it.  The  soul,  trusting  in  the  Savior, 
and  becoming  like  Him,  makes  a  new  Jeru- 
salem in  itself;  its  virtues  crystalize  into 
the  jewelled  foundations  of  the  heavenly 
gates  of  the  personality.  The  powers  of  the 
life  become  adequate  to  the  demands  of  the 
life  j  the  soul's  beauty  and  peace  are  abiding. 


266  THE  CITY   OF   GOD 

Thus  the  Christian  Eden  and  the  New 
Jerusalem  may  begin  in  this  world,  though 
their  full  fruition  will  be  reached  in  that 
great  beyond,  where  we  shall  "  know  even 
as  we  are  known." 


CHAPTER  LVII. 

HOW  CHRIST  FULFILLED  THE  LAW 
AND  THE  PEOPHETS. 

"  I  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill."     Matt,  v,  17. 

"  I  know  not  what  the  future  hath 

Of  marvel  or  surprise, 
Assured  alone  that  life  and  death 
His  mercy  underlies." 

—  Whittier. 

THE  united  yearning  of  the  Hebrew  people 
centred  in  the  expectation  of  a  great  De- 
liverer, who  should  establish  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Prophets  caught  glimpses  of  the 
great  ideal,  and  each  spoke  of  it  in  the  best 
terms  in  which  it  could  be  conceived  in  his 
age.  The  various  codes  of  the  law  were 
designed,  each  in  its  day,  to  help  on  the 
coming  of  the  glad  time.  Sages  strained 
their  mental  vision  into  the  future,  and  laid 
down  precepts  for  that  wise  life,  which 
would  bring  in  the  kingdom.  Psalmists,  as 
their  imaginations  were  kindled  with  the 
attractive  ideal,  sang  of  it. 

As  the  centuries  passed,  and  the  time  of 
the  birth  of  Christ  approached,  the  whole 

267 


268  FULFILLED   THE    LAW 

energy  of  the  religious  minds  of  Israel  con- 
centrated itself  upon  this  one  longing.  No 
doubt  there  was  much  in  the  Jewish  thought 
of  the  Messiah  which  was  imperfect  and 
unworthy,  but  on  the  whole  it  is  an  inspir- 
ing spectacle  to  which  the  literature  of  these 
centuries  introduces  us.  It  is  a  great  thing 
that  the  whole  genius  of  a  nation  should 
have  devoted  itself  through  hundreds  of 
years  to  such  an  ideal. 

The  history  of  the  Messianic  hope  in 
Israel  is  like  the  history  of  a  plant.  It  had 
one  appearance  when  it  first  sprang  up  as  a 
tiny  shoot,  quite  another  when  its  branches 
were  well  spread  to  the  air  of  heaven,  and 
when  finally  its  flower  came  the  gentle 
beauty  of  the  petals,  and  the  heavenly  per- 
fume which  they  exhaled,  surpassed  any-* 
thing  which  the  stalk  and  the  leaves  had 
seemed  to  promise.  The  Jewish  plant  ex- 
hibited the  thorny  leaves  of  an  earthly 
kingdom ;  Christ  unfolded  the  beautiful 
petals  of  a  kingdom  of  the  spirit.  He  came, 
not  to  perform  certain  ceremonies,  and  thus 
fulfill  the  law,  but  to  help  men  to  the  real- 
ization of  that  for  which  the  law  stood. 


FULFILLED   THE    LAW  269 

The  law  sought  to  secure  a  righteous  life  by 
external  rules ;  He  made  a  righteous  life 
possible  for  the  renewed  spirit.  Prophets 
dreamed  of  an  empire  which  should  rule 
provinces  ;  He  established  a  kingdom  which 
controls  passion.  He  did  not  destroy  the 
law,  but  fulfilled  it.  For  just  as  the  flower 
fulfills  the  purpose  of  the  bud,  His  teaching 
fulfilled  the  old  Jewish  hopes.  The  bud 
passes  away  as  the  flower  comes,  but  it  is  not 
destroyed,  because  it  has  fulfilled  its  destiny. 

If,  then,  we  cannot  select  here  and  there  a 
detached  verse  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  our 
fathers  and  mothers  used  to  do,  and  say: 
"This  was  spoken  directly  of  Christ,"  we 
may  find  in  the  whole  course  of  Hebrew 
history,  with  its  lines  of  thought  converg- 
ing towards  the  Messiah,  and  its  highest 
hopes  centering  with  increasing  intensity  in 
the  Messianic  kingdom,  a  far  stronger 
prophecy  of  the  Christ  than  a  few  detached 
texts  would  be.  The  nation  itself  was  a 
prophet ;  its  yearnings  were  a  divine  oracle. 

The  fulfilment,  too,  is  most  instructive. 
It  illustrates  the  way  God  leads  His  people 
on  from  goal  to  goal  and  height  to  height 


270  FULFILLED   THE    LAW 

in  the  ascent  of  life.  The  boy  has  his 
childish  ideas  of  the  manhood  he  longs  to 
reach,  but  when  he  becomes  a  man  the 
things  which  possessed  such  charm  for  him 
interest  him  no  more.  New  interests  dawn 
upon  his  mind, — interests  which  before  he 
could  not  appreciate,  and  childish  things  are 
put  away.  Thus  God  ever  leads  us  on.  The 
realization  of  old  ideals  is  approached,  only 
that  a  new  and  higher  ideal  may  be  pre- 
sented to  the  soul.  A  theology  is  crystal- 
ized  and  does  its  work,  only  that  it  may 
give  place  to  another,  newer  and  better. 
The  reform  which  seemed  to  promise  the 
millennium  is  accomplished,  only  to  reveal 
the  fact  that  it  has  made  ten  other  reforms 
necessary. 

"  I  know  not  what  the  future  hath 
Of  marvel  and  surprise." 

In  spiritual  things,  too,  the  standard  is 
under  the  leadership  of  Christ  ever  moving 
forward.  He  leads  on  from  experience  to 
experience.  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be,"  but,  "  we  shall  be  like  Him." 
The  whole  course  of  revelation  points  to  the 
fact  that  heaven  itself  will  not  be  a  life  of 


FULFILLED   THE   LAW  271 

stagnation,  but  an  ever  delightful  advance 
in  the  knowledge  and  the  experience  of 
spiritual  things.  Its  delight  and  its  joy 
will  be  that  the  soul  shall  live  in  the  pres- 
ence and  in  the  power  of  Him  who  con- 
tinually makes  all  things  new.  The  full 
meaning  of  that  life,  the  quality  of  its 
felicity,  and  the  height  of  its  love  "  eye 
hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard." 


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